How Kisshu Stole Christmas
by Tsukiko AlienWitch
Summary: Do I really have to say what this story is about? I'm sure everyone knows this story. It takes place after the anime version and it's inspired by Jim Carey's 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas.' Merry Christmas everyone!
1. I Hate Christmas!

**A/N: Yo guys!! Okay, this is my Christmas treat for all of you! This story has the same basic idea, the Grinch stealing Christmas and then returning it. But this story has a few similarities to the Jim Carey version of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'. It's only because I like the unrequited love, party, and little girl idea. I think it's sweet. This is also going to part comedy. Hopefully…**

**Taruto: 'Hopefully' is the word. You're not really funny at times.**

**Tsukiko: -ignoring him- I do NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies I use in my stories. I only come up with the ideas and the changes. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and please keep them coming. I enjoy each one that I receive. One more quick note! Since I started this, I will not continue my other stories until this is finished. I'm sorry but that's how I am and that way, it can be down by the time Christmas is over. Hopefully… Thank you and please enjoy!!**

**How Kisshu Stole Christmas**

Ch. 1: I Hate Christmas!!

As soon as it was eight in the morning, the alarm clock turn on and instead of the annoying, usual beeping, music was playing.

_Rockin' around the Christmas tree  
At the Christmas party__ hop  
Mistletoe hung where you can see  
Everybody tries to stop_

Rockin' around the Christmas tree  
Let the Christmas spirit ring  
Later we'll have some pumpkin pie  
And we'll do some caroling

You will get a sentimental feelin' when you hear  
Voices singing let's be jolly  
Deck the halls with boughs of holly

As Kisshu lies on his soft, warm bed, he began to sing to the words of 'Rockin Around the Christmas Tree' while slowly waking up in the process.

_Rockin' around the Christmas tree  
Have a happy holiday  
Everyone's dancing merrily  
In the new old fashioned _ _way_

You will get a sentimental feelin' when you hear  
Voices singing let's be jolly  
Deck the halls with boughs of holly

As soon as he realized what he was doing and what he was doing with, he widens his eyes in realization and stopped himself. Then he suddenly got up. "Shut the hell up!!" he yells, slamming the alarm clock off. The music stopped and Kisshu pants.

Another day and what a fine way to wake up. In a human apartment on earth, Kisshu lies on the soft human bed, the covers now covering half of his body because he suddenly woke up and he's panting because of the sudden action of shutting an alarm clock off. He takes a few moments to breathe before removing his hand slowly and carefully. After a moment of silence and stillness, he jumps out of bed to reveal his white tank top and his green boxers. He rushes to the door that will lead to the living room/kitchen.

As soon as he opens it, he yells, "Who the hell changed the alarm clock to radio?!!"

All Pai and Taruto do is greet with a plate of hot food in front of them and a hot cup; a cup of coffee for Pai and hot chocolate for Taruto. "Good morning, sleeping beauty," they greet with a bored voice like this has been happening every morning. Actually it only happens when Kisshu wakes up to Christmas music.

"Don't 'good morning' me!!" Kisshu yells, his voice going high when he said 'good morning'. He stomps towards them and then slams his hands on the counter. "Now who changed the alarm clock from alarm to radio?!" They weren't faze by his attitude one bit.

Pai takes a sip of his coffee and Taruto answers, "I did. It was the only way to make sure that you get out of bed the first time."

"And what for?!" Kisshu screams. Then three veins pulse on his head as it looks like he has a very angry grin on his face. "You know how much I hate that music. Did you wanted to die while you're still a kid?"

Pai corrects, "Technically, he's a teenager."

Kisshu ignores that as Taruto reminds, "You promised that you would go outside today."

Kisshu stands up straight, lost the grin and asks, "Since when did I promise that?!"

"When you were high on soda at the Halloween party," both aliens answered.

It's been six years since the Tokyo Mew Mew battle and Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto came back to earth earlier this year, like about New Years that year. It was really hectic when they arrived on earth at midnight. They thought a war was going on until the mew mews explained it to them that the _boom_ and the _bang_ are only fireworks. The aliens swore that they weren't here to attack earth. They promised that they're here on a visit. They love their planet and their people but they missed earth and its humans. So they decided to come and visit earth while the mews still remember them. It didn't take long for them to become good friends with the Mews. Yeah sure, Pudding and Kisshu are annoying the heck out of Taruto and Ichigo, but there are good times and bad times. While the aliens went on with their own lives, which means trying to understand how the humans live, the mews and the aliens do get together on holidays or seasonal events; like News Years, Valentines Day, the Easter feast, summer, Halloween, and etc. anything that Ryou came up and planned for the café to have a private party for.

Kisshu blinks in surprise when the Halloween party was mentioned. He looked away for a moment and tried to remember. He remembers all of the sugar, the costumes, the games, and the drama, which mostly meant him being friendly with Ichigo even though Masaya was there. Then he remembered when he was drinking a little too much soda that had a lot of sugar in it. Kisshu tenses at the remembrance and both Pai and Taruto can see that. Even though Kisshu turns around towards them, clueless.

"Sorry, don't remember!" he told them. He patted Taruto's head and told him, "You must have made that up, Taruto. Don't do that okay?"

Taruto only thinks, _'He is a bad liar with that fake smile and the sweat dripping down his face.'_

"Besides," Kisshu starts turning around, "there is absolutely no way I'm getting out of this apartment with all of that Christmas decorations, Christmas music, and that stupid Christmas cheer all over Tokyo!!"

Taruto turns to Pai and asks, "I thought you were the Christmas Scrooge?"

"I am but I've already been visited by three ghosts," he corrects. "Kisshu is just the Christmas Grinch."

Kisshu has a big vein pulsing on his head as he corrects both of them, "I'm not Christmas anything!!" He turns around and declares, "I hate Christmas!! I always have and always will! Now if you don't mind, I prefer to go to bed!" After that, he marches to his bedroom and slams the door.

Taruto and Pai return to their food as Taruto asks, "Do you think we should tell him that Christmas is in two days?"

Pai takes another sip of his coffee before saying, "Tell me what you're applying. If you mean that he can come out once Christmas has passed, he won't until New Year's Eve because there is still the 'Christmas Get Rid of Everything' sale. Ryou and Keiichiro told me that and I'm sure that Kisshu doesn't want to come out when he still sees Christmas all over the city."

Taruto lets out a sigh and mumbles, "That idiot needs to forget about the past. That happened six years ago."

"Yes, but the memory is still fresh. He wasn't here for the other Christmases so the only way he could think of for him to deal with it is to stay hidden away and wait till it pasts. His last Christmas wasn't a merry one. Remember that."

In his room, Kisshu wasn't in his head. He's standing in front of the mirror, gazing at himself like he's seeing a pitied animal. Since six years ago, he's grown in both height and size. He's a lot taller and a little bit more built. Six years ago he was just skin and toned muscles. Now he looks more like a man at the age of eighteen. However, his body may have changed but his hair didn't. It's still the same short cut hair with strands in front of each big elf like ear about four inches longer than the rest of his hair and it's still tied by a dark red bandage. But since he was sleeping, it's not tied. Since things have changed on his planet and his life since he met the mews, his skin has a little bit more color than it did before. Six years, he was ghostly pale because he never saw the sun before until he came to earth. He's been living underground before then. But compared to the other humans, he's still a bit paler than them but not as much. But Kisshu wasn't looking at the color of his skin, the cut of his hair, or the size he is now. His hand rises up to his left shoulder and he pulls down his tank top strap. There is a scar. A big one. A big rugged scar that he remembers getting from his battle against the Mew Mews. He can even still remember the events and the feelings of how he received it.

The jealous rage,

The cold metal of the sword,

The sharp, stinging pain on his shoulder,

The warm, wet feel of his blood running,

The drop of his heart from the words of his lord,

And the cold, harsh words of a pink hair, cat girl who he had saved from certain death.

After remembering the past, Kisshu grits his teeth together and replaces the strap of his tank top. Then he punches the wall as he turns away from the mirror. "Stupid Christmas!" he yells, walking back to his bed.

Kisshu sits on his bed and goes to his alarm clock. He turns the volume down in case it goes off again and he places it back on the counter. Then he lies down and grabs the covers. He places it over his body and closes his eyes to get some more sleep as possible.

While in the living room of the apartment, Taruto cuts his over easy eggs and allows the yoke to spread all over the cooked white of his eggs. He grabs a piece of toast and scoops up the eggs before eating it. Pai lowers his coffee and asks, "Didn't you turn his alarm clock on because you wanted him to come with us to the Christmas shopping trip?"

"Yeah," Taruto answers. "I figure that maybe he would come out and help his dear, sweet Ichigo pick what type of decorations for the Christmas party tomorrow. I even told them that I would drag the idiot out of bed. Even she was starting to get worried when she hasn't seen him since the Thanksgiving feast."

"She's grown attached to him. I'm not surprised."

"But now I have to tell them that he's not coming. If he's still trying to win her heart, acting like this I don't think is the most effective method."

Taruto takes a bite of his toast and eggs as Pai takes a moment of silence to let the younger alien eat. "What time do we meet them?" Taruto chews a little longer before swallowing.

"Ten o'clock. Ichigo, Pudding, and Lettuce are supposed to get the decorations and games while the others start cooking, except Mint. She claims to have a Christmas family reunion to attend so that she can attend the party tomorrow." He takes another bite of his breakfast and Pai looks deep in thought.


	2. Shopping Trip

**A/N: Hi, hi everyone!! How's the story going?!**

**Kisshu: You're torturing me…**

**Tsukiko: Is it about the first chapter? I'm sorry, Kisshu-sama.**

**Taruto: Why does she call him '-sama'?**

**Pai: I do not know.**

**Kisshu: It's not that. It's what happening in THIS chapter!**

**Tsukiko: Well don't say anything!! You'll ruin it. Anyway, can you say the Author's note?**

**Kisshu: -sigh- The torture lady here does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies she uses in her stories. She only comes up with the changes and the ideas. Thank you all for the reviews and please keep them coming. She enjoys them to the fullest. She would also like to appreciate the amount of reviews she received from only the first chapter. Thank you and please enjoy.**

**Tsukiko: I'm not that mean, am I Kisshu-sama?**

**Kisshu: Stop call me 'lord'!!**

Ch. 2: Shopping Trip

"Do you think it should be a 'White Christmas' theme or 'Candy Land' theme?" Ichigo asks, debating rather to get the snow flake or the lollipop Christmas ornament.

Pai looks at the two ornaments and answers, "Candy land. The party is taking place at the café anyway."

Ichigo looks at the two and says, "True but maybe something different might be interesting."

"'White Christmas' is beautiful but it doesn't mix well with the café," Pai notes.

"Well we could use some white stuffing and use it to line on the floor boarders and a bit on the Christmas tree. Then we could use white ribbon on the ceiling."

"If you already have it planned out, then use the 'White Christmas' theme."

"No. I think the 'Candy Land' theme would fit the café better."

As Ichigo puts the snow flake ornament down, Pai rubs his temples. He thinks, _'Why does Kisshu like this girl so much?'_

At ten o'clock, Pai and Taruto met up with Ichigo, Pudding, and Lettuce at the shopping center. To make them look human, Pai was able to create a device that could hide their ears, like a hologram or an illusion. The device replaces their big elf like ears with human ears and their eyes to not look so sharp like cat eyes. They look like normal, human eyes. The only thing the device doesn't do is cancel out their powers. They try not to use them in public as best as they can. The device is in the form of a silver ring band. Kisshu usually wears his ring on his ring finger, Taruto wears it on his index finger, and Pai wears his on his middle finger. Then to add more to the disguise, they would also wear human clothing. They can blend in better with human clothing than their traditional clothing. Because it's so cold, Taruto is wearing long pants, a red turtleneck sweater, and a black and white coat. Pai is wearing something similar, except his sweater is purple and his coat is a body length coat and completely black. Taruto's coat almost looks like a football jacket.

Pudding was so happy to see Taruto that she jumped on him and hugged him, like always. Lettuce only greeted Pai with a sweet, gentle smile. He greeted back, almost a bit nervous. When Ichigo didn't see Kisshu, she asked where he was and they answered that he refused to come out of his room. He made it very clear when he slammed the door in their faces three times; the first time when he went back to bed, the second when they tried to drag him from the bed, and the third time when he slammed the front door because he wanted them to leave. Ichigo looked worried and Lettuce and Pudding look sympatric. Then Ichigo got angry and claims that she doesn't care. She'll just have to find decorations by herself. While Ichigo is in charge of decorations, Pudding and Lettuce are supposed to look for games and any form of entertainment. Lettuce is going with Pudding to be in charge of the wallet and to make sure that Pudding doesn't get too crazy. Then Pai claimed that he wished to go with Ichigo, she was surprised as well as the others but he explained that while 'Lettuce-san' is suppose to keep Pudding in check, he's going to keep Ichigo 'in check' as well. Lettuce understood while the others were thinking about if 'decorations' and 'Pai' are a good combination.

As Ichigo puts the snowflake ornament away, she asks, "Hey, Pai! Why doesn't Kisshu want to come out anymore?" Pai looks up at Ichigo after she asked that but she doesn't look at him. "I mean, the last time I saw him was after the Thanksgiving feast. He wouldn't be having some kind of alien sickness that keeps him bedridden all during the Christmas season, would he? Or does he not like the cold because it reminds him too much of his past?" Pai stares at Ichigo a little longer before saying anything. He knows that she's talking about the weather conditions his planet used to suffer and how their lives before the Mew Aqua or Tokyo Mew Mew. How could and dark it was. But the only thoughts he could think of as he stared at her were that she must really care for Kisshu, despite the fact that he keeps bothering her with never ending hugs and kisses.

Then he says, "It's not the cold season he hates. Kisshu hates Christmas." Ichigo's eyes widen after hearing that. She sharply turns around to face Pai and he could see the disbelief in her eyes.

"He…_hates_ Christmas?" she asks, the disbelief also being noticed in her voice.

Pai nods. "I'm afraid so."

"But everyone loves Christmas! How could he hate it?"

Pai shrugs his shoulders like he doesn't know. A lie was told but it was unnoticeable to Ichigo. "His heart just shrinks two sizes too small compared to a normal heart around this time of year."

Ichigo tries to figure it out as she asks, "So you're telling me that Kisshu hasn't been out because it Christmas season? You're not going to tell me that he isn't coming out until New Year's, are you?" Pai didn't say anything. "He isn't coming out until New Years?" Pai nods and Ichigo turns around to use one hand to lean on the counter of ornaments and the other to hold her forehead as she's facing the ground. "That idiot!" she mumbles, almost like a curse. "How could someone hate Christmas? It's the one holiday everyone looks forward to."

Pai stays silent for a moment. He was thinking of something. "Your boyfriend is on the mainland, correct?"

Ichigo looks up at him, confused as she answers, "Yeah. He's going to spend Christmas with some of his relatives. Why?"

Pai answers, "No reason."

While across the streets, watching them through binoculars, Kisshu growls. "Look at Pai, getting it on with _my girl_." He puts the binoculars down and his big sunglass come falling down as well. He puts it back up on the top of his head as he grumbles, "He doesn't see me going on with Lettuce. That bastard!" Kisshu's hiding behind a trashcan with long baggy jeans and a grey sweat jacket with a hood over his head. He also has sunglasses on and sneakers for shoes. In his hands is a pair of binoculars for spying on Pai and Ichigo and his ring is on his ring finger.

As Kisshu stares at the store that both Ichigo and Pai are in, a Christmas tree truck goes passing by. The smell of pine made Kisshu's stomach turn and the sign 'Christmas' on the truck made his skin crawl. "It's bad enough that I'm out here on my own accord," he grumbles again. "But if Taruto didn't say that it was just going to be the three of us plus the three girls on a little shopping trip _after_ I told him that I was never coming out, then I might have reconsidered. Now here I am, hiding behind some trash can, there is Christmas decorations and even the word 'Christmas' at every inch of the city, and it's freezing cold!!" He hugs himself and starts rubbing his arms as his teeth clatter for a moment. "The first thing I'm doing when I get home is taking a really hot shower and staying in there so the steam can remain inside."

"Hey mommy! Mommy!" Kisshu looks up when he heard the voice of a little boy and he sees a mother and a child holding hands while walking down the sidewalk. "There's a weirdo behind a trash can!"

'_Weirdo?'_ Kisshu wonders, slightly insulted.

The mom looks nerves as she says, "Yes, yes, very good Kiseki. Let's go home now." Then she pulls her son away and runs as fast as she can down the sidewalk.

Kisshu looks down at himself and wonders, "What? Do I look like a hobo or something?" When he turns back to the decorations store, he doesn't see the form of Ichigo or Pai. He uses the binoculars again and he still doesn't see them. "Crap," he grumbles, lowering the binoculars. "I lost them. Thanks a lot, Kiseki." Then he lets out a sigh before standing up and putting the binoculars away. "Oh well." He puts his sunglasses back on and says, "I was getting sick of seeing Christmas everywhere anyway. Time to go home." He walks pass the trashcan and puts his hands in his jacket pockets.

When he walked away from the store, Ichigo and Pai came out. Ichigo grumbles, "That woman took forever to check our bags! Just because they're big doesn't mean that she can go through _everything_ and made sure that _everything_ is on the receipt!"

Pai only says, "She was only trying to be careful about what people by. Some of the ornaments in there are made with real crystals."

"But we didn't buy any stupid crystals!! We're going with Candy Land theme. Not Winter Wonderland."

Pai only lets out a sigh as Ichigo continues to fume about the lady at the doors. But before he could turn to the opposite direction to follow Ichigo, he sees something at the corner of his eyes going the other way across the street. He stops and turns around, just in time to see Kisshu turn at a corner and walk away. All he could think was one thing, _'I knew it.'_

"Pai!"

Pai turns around at the sound of his name and Ichigo reminds him, "Let's go back to the café and start decorating. Keiichiro will serve hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies when we get there."

"Alright," he answers, following her as they head to the café in the park.

While for Kisshu, he's ready to blow.

"Merry Christmas!" a man in front of the super store greets while ringing the silver bell for donations.

Kisshu turns to him and smiles. He waves and says, "Y-Yeah. You too." Then he turns around to walk away while thinking of that man in a murder scene. _'If I hear that one more time, I might turn this whole city into a blood massacre!!'_

Then he hears the speakers for a store announce, _"Good morning everyone and Merry Christmas!!"_ Kisshu stops walking and his body begins to shake with rage with a huge vein pulses on his head. _"Right now, everything at Matsumodo's Antique Store is eighty percent off!!"_ Kisshu looks confused for a moment and turns to the side. Right next to him is the Matsumodo's Antique store. Kisshu sweat drops when he sees that.

"Ah, who shops at an antique store anyway?!" he says, trying to calm himself down.

_Rumble_

Kisshu turns to the other side and he sees a crowd stampeding. "Oh, them." Next second later, he was run over by a crowd of last minute shoppers.

2 minutes later…

There was a crowd still running to the store.

5 minutes later…

Kisshu is on the ground with foot prints all over him and a deserted sidewalk. Even the guy who said 'Merry Christmas' to him while also ringing for donations was gone. Kisshu twitches for a bit a moment longer before picking himself up and a vein growing on his head. He sudden stands up and screams, "What the hell is wrong with these stupid humans?!!!" He's ticked. "That's it! I had it! I don't care if anyone sees me! I'm going home, flying!! I can't stand walking through the city streets without getting run over or greeted by the two most ugliest words in the history of the universe!!"

Kisshu turns around to the skies and jumps up. He starts flying home with a vein still on his head and a few choice words escaping his lips.

While on the ground at the crosswalk between the stores of Tokyo and Tokyo park, Pudding is cheering and jumping for joy.

"Hooray, na no da!!" she cheers, jumping. "We found awesome games, na no da!! Everyone will praise Pudding for her good choice, na no da!"

Taruto looks in the shopping bags and list off the names of some of the games. "Trouble, Twister, Battle Ships, Uno Poker, and Mouse Trap. These games a really childish, Pudding."

Then Lettuce says, "But you and Pudding are about the same age."

"We're thirteen years old. These games are at least eight and under." Still Pudding ignored him. Nothing seems to be ruining her day.

While in the sky, Kisshu is flying almost directly over them. But as he's flying, his binoculars come falling out of his pocket. He notices when he doesn't feel the weight of them. He stops fly and watches them fall to the ground. "Damn!"

The binoculars land in the middle of the crosswalk and Pudding notices them. She stops jumping and stares at them in the middle of the street. Seeing that her excited character is gone, Taruto raises a brow and asks, "Pudding? Something wrong?" She doesn't answer. She puts her stuff down and runs to the streets. "Ah, Pudding!!" he calls.

Lettuce yells, "Pudding, get back here!! Cars are still coming!" But she ignores them as she gets out of each car's way. They beep at her as she continues to run to the binoculars. Kisshu sees her and stares down at her in confusion and surprise.

"Pudding?"

Pudding stops in front of the binoculars and picks them up. "Weird, na no da," she notes. "What are binoculars doing falling out of the sky, na no da?"

"Pudding!!"

_Beep, beep_

Pudding looks up where she heard the sound of the beeping and she sees a truck coming at her in full speed. Lettuce gasps in shock as Kisshu's eyes widen in terror. Taruto looked angry.

"Damn it!" he curses, ready to run into the streets to save her but he stops when he sees something.

It all happened to fast but it happened and Taruto saw it. He saw Kisshu suddenly appear right next to Pudding's side like he teleported there and he grabbed Pudding. Then they were gone right before the truck ran them over. The binoculars are left behind and run over instead.

Lettuce calls, "Pudding!!" But out of reaction to her sudden disappearance.

While on the roof of a building behind Taruto and Lettuce, Kisshu has his hands on Pudding's shoulders and he asks, "What the hell were you thinking?! Were you trying to kill yourself?!"

But all Pudding says is, "Kisshu onii-chan is out of his apartment, na no da." That only added another vein to Kisshu's head.

He retracts his hands from her shoulders in case he might hurt her as he tells her, "The next time something falls from the sky, don't go running after it in the middle of the road."

Then Pudding hugs him. He's surprised by that as she cheers, "Kisshu onii-chan saved me, na no da!!" He pulls away and smiles cheerfully at him. "You have the caring Christmas spirit in you, na no da." Kisshu cracks when he hears that.

He has three veins pulsing on his head as he tells her with a crocked smile on his face, "I do not have the Christmas spirit. Taruto would kill me if I didn't do anything when I could. I'm going to drop you off at the ground and not a word to the others, alright? I don't want everyone knowing that I left the apartment. I still have my pride you know."

"Pudding knows, na no da!" she tells him.

'_She's thirteen years old and she still talks like that? Oh well. Might be one of the reasons why Taruto likes her so much,'_ Kisshu thinks, exhaling to calm down his nerves.

"Well, see ya, Pudding-chan," he tells her, before the air rippled around her and she was gone. Kisshu lets out another stressed out sigh as he thinks out load, "I think I'll just teleport home. Being out in the open is giving me more stress than I need." After that, the air ripples around him and he disappeared.

On the ground, Pudding comes up behind Lettuce and Taruto and yells, "Here I am, na no da!!"

Taruto and Lettuce turn around to see her and as soon as Lettuce saw her, she jumps on Pudding. "Pudding-san!!" she calls, hugging her. Pudding looks up at Lettuce as she looks like she's ready to cry. "I was so scared. Don't ever do that again!"

Pudding hugs her back and says, "I'm sorry, na no da. But I'm fine, na no da. I was saved, na no da!" Lettuce looks down at her in confusion as Taruto looks suspicious.

"Who was it?" Taruto asks.

Lettuce looks at him now in confusion as Pudding answers like nothing is wrong, "A friend, na no da! But I can't tell you who he is, na no da. He made me promise, na no da. Claims that it would hurt his pride if Taru-Taru found out, na no da." Then she pulls away from Lettuce's hold and hugs Taruto. "But next time, Pudding wants to be saved by Taru-Taru, na no da."

Taruto turns red from her hug as he tries to push her off. "Get off me, Pudding!! Humans can see!!"

XxX

"Kisshu!" Taruto calls, entering the apartment with Pai behind him.

Kisshu is sitting on the couch in front of the TV, watching a war movie on full volume. He looks up like he's bored as he greets, "Yo!"

Pai closes the door behind him and he yells, "Turn that down! We have neighbors!"

Kisshu puts his hand behind his big elf like ear and he asks, "What?!"

Getting frustrated, Taruto goes up to him and steals the controls from Kisshu's hand. He turns off the TV and puts his hands on his hips. Kisshu was watching him as he was turning off the TV. "I was watching that, you know."

"And you were going deaf!" Taruto adds. "Mind telling us why you were wondering the streets of Tokyo after you said that you are never coming out of this apartment until after the holidays?"

'_Crap,'_ Kisshu thinks, his expression not revealing any emotions. _'Pudding must have talked. That's what happened when you talk to a monkey.'_

He quickly says, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I was in here all day. I was hearing caroling outside so I turned the movie and have been watching _Wind Takers_, a bit of _Death Note_ episodes, and there was a_ Blood Plus_ episode marathon. It was really good. Lots of blood and war scenes."

Pai tells him, "Don't try to fool us, Kisshu. We saw you."

'_Okay, I take that back,'_ Kisshu thinks, hearing that. _'Pudding didn't say a word. These two are just really observant. Especially Pai.'_

Kisshu shrugs his shoulders like he's clueless. "Still don't know what you're talking about."

"Then you weren't in front of the Christmas Decoration shop?"

"Or the crosswalk between the shops and the park?" Taruto asks.

Kisshu answers, "Been in the living room and my room all day."

Taruto asks, "Then why are you wearing a sweat jacket and long pants instead of your sleep clothes?"

"I was cold. It hasn't snowed yet but it's freezing!"

"Why is your ring on the table across from you?"

"In case the pizza guy came before you did."

"How could you even tell if the pizza guy came when your volume was on full blast?"

Kisshu looks like he's getting bored of this. "Did you two not hear me say that there were people caroling and it was irritating the hell out of me? Jeeze! Six years made you two lazy."

Taruto has a vein on his head and he looks like he's about to murder Kisshu is cold blood when the door bell rang.

_Ding-dong_

_Ding-dong_

Kisshu reaches for the ring on his finger and puts it on. "And that would be the pizza guy." He starts walking to the door as he continues to talk and appear human. "I ordered us individual pizzas. I got the four cheeses with pineapple for Taruto, the mushroom with spinach for Pai, and the anchovies with pepperoni for me." As he stands in front of the door, he reaches for his pocket to take out the money. But when he opens it, he sees the pizza guy in a Santa Clause's outfit and he's holding the three pizzas in one hand. Kisshu tenses up when he sees that.

"Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas young man!!" the guy greeted in a deep, jolly voice. What he got was the door slammed in his face.

_Slam_

"Hey! I was just kidding! You did order pizzas, didn't you?!" the guy asks in his normal voice. But as he was knocking on the door, Kisshu was walking away, frustrated.

When he passes Taruto, he gives him the money. "You pay for them but no tips for that hideous outfit!" Then he marches to his room and slams that door too as soon as he entered.

Taruto goes to the door and opens it. The guy asks, "Where's the other guy?"

"You'll have to excuse me friend," Taruto tells him. "He woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Are those the three individual pizzas, one with four cheeses and pineapple, one with mushroom and spinach, and the other with anchovies and pepperoni?"

The guy nods. "Yeah. 15300 yen, please."

Taruto goes through Kisshu's money and he mumbles, "I swear, the prices get higher and higher every time." Then he passes the guy the exact amount of money. The guy then gives him the pizzas. "Thanks, and by the way. My friend told me not to give you change because that outfit is hideous. Unless you also work at a shopping mall, I suggest not wearing that." Then Taruto closes the door in front of the guy's face.

"And here I am wearing this outfit because I thought I could get tips," the guy whines with tears running down his face.


	3. Aching Pain and a Reason to Come

**A/N: Hi guys!! One quick announcement is that this chapter isn't as funny as the other two chapters, but that's mostly because it's kind of personal. But maybe the ending part is a bit funny but not as much as the first two. Sorry that it's so short too and I better hurry up! Christmas is only five days away!**

**Pai: Well you are on Christmas break so the chances of writing are great.**

**Tsukiko: But I have to help clean the house before New Years and if I want to write for this story, I need to watch Christmas movies or listen to Christmas music!**

**Pai: The radio takes no effort to turn on.**

**Tsukiko: The only problem is the commercials and the traffic reports in between. Anyway, I do NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies that I have used in my stories. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and please keep them coming. Thank you all and please enjoy.**

Ch. 3: Aching Pain and a Reason to Come

"Kisshu!!" Taruto calls as soon as he enters the training room. Right at that moment, Kisshu kicks the punching bag and the chain that was supporting it snaps in two. It goes flying through the air and crashes at a pile of weights. From what Taruto can see, the punching bag has a big picture of a Christmas tree on it. Taruto raises a brow at that as Kisshu lowers his leg.

"What do you want now?" Kisshu asks, annoyed as he turns to look at his friend. Kisshu has sweat dripping down his face, causing his workout clothes, a black men's tank top shirt that's shorten to reveal his tight abs with a turtle neck collar and knee length shorts that hang on his hips, to stick to his sweating body_(I'm getting a nose bleed writing this XP)_.

Instead of answering, Taruto asks, "How the heck did you get a pig picture of a Christmas tree when you hate Christmas?" _'Because I bet that it took every bit of restraint this idiot has to not rip the thing to shreds before tapping it on the punching bag.'_

"I only got one to help with relieving stress," Kisshu answers. "Now mind answering my question?"

Taruto shrugs his shoulders and he answers, "I just wanted to know why you're in the ship instead of the apartment."

"The apartment doesn't have a gym and if it did, I'm sure the landlord would get angry at me if I did the same thing I did to our equipment to his." He points to the punching bag and the weights it crashed into. Taruto turns from Kisshu to the mess, getting the idea.

"Good point."

Just because Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto live in an apartment, they still needed a vehicle to get from their planet to earth. They only parked it away from earth's atmosphere and away from Earth's satellites so that no human can find it and decide to research it in Area 51. The ship comes with equipment of communication to their kind, a training room or gym, their rooms in case they don't want to sleep in the apartment, kitchen, and other stuff that they might need, along with things that they already had when they were attacking earth; a green abyss with ancient ruins and alien computers. Kisshu is now in the training room, working off some stress and apparently Taruto just entered to see Kisshu beating the crap out of the punching bag.

"Anyway," Taruto starts as Kisshu walks over to the mess. Kisshu looks up at him when he picked up the punching bag and Taruto adds, "The café is having a party tomorrow evening and-"

But he was suddenly cut off.

"Sorry, can't come!" Kisshu interrupts, standing the punching bag up and then moving it to the side. Taruto has his mouth open and has a moment of silence as Kisshu leans the punching bag on the wall next to the mess. He explains, "We usually all get together when something festive comes up. Well this is the one party I'm not coming to. That holiday is in less than forty eight hours from now! But of course, you already know that." Taruto looks to the side after hearing that. So that means that Kisshu's been listening to the conversation this morning, including the fact that today is December twenty-third.

"Look, Kisshu," Taruto starts again. "I know how much you hate Christmas but you have to get over it! That happened six years ago."

"Just get out, Taruto!" Kisshu yells. Taruto did expect reject but not this fast. Kisshu turns around and places his hand on his left shoulder. "This right here still aches! It's been aching for six years and it gets worst with each Christmas that passes. I may care for the mews, but I'm not going to some stupid party where the theme is Christmas! Especially when those girls were also the cause of this aching pain. Now get the hell out of here before I treat your teenage body like how I treated this punching bag!" He proves his point when he points to it.

Taruto huffs and turns around like he's going to walk away. "Whatever, Grinch!" Then he teleports away, possibly back to earth.

When he was gone, Kisshu goes back to picking up the weights to clean up the mess. He piles the weights up like a pyramid; putting the twenty pound on the bottom, then the thirty, the fifty, the seventy, and so on and so forth until the top level was two weights of two hundred and fifty pounds. Once he was finished with that, he grabs the punching bag and walks over to the other end of the broke chain. He flies up and grabs both ends together. In a matter of seconds, the two chains melted together thanks to his energy powers. He flies back down on the ground and then cracks his knuckles.

"No one can stop this pain," he mumbles. "They could only increase it."

Then he raises his fist and punches the punching bag, hitting the Christmas tree directly on the mark.

XxX

"He's not coming to the party, na no da?" Pudding asks.

Taruto answers angrily, "Nope!" Then he takes a bite of the gingerbread cupcake in his hand and chews. "He's too much of a grouch to come to a _Christmas_ party, the stupid idiot!"

After meeting up at the café after getting the games and decorations they need for the party, Taruto and Pai told the girls, Lettuce, Pudding, and Ichigo, that they will be back but they needed to check on how Kisshu was doing, staying in the apartment all by himself. The girls told them that they understood and that the boys don't have to come back because helping them chose was good enough. But they came back anyway and they brought their personal pizzas. They explained that Kisshu ordered three of them for themselves but then he got upset so they decide to eat here instead of where grumpy is. When the girls asked what was wrong, they only told them that the pizza guy came in a Santa Clause outfit and Kisshu did not expect that. Lettuce and Pudding didn't understand but Ichigo did. Ichigo looked upset when she remembered Pai's reason of why Kisshu won't come out and continued with decorating.

Pai and Taruto just told Lettuce and Pudding not to worry about it and they asked if they can eat here. Of course the girls said that they don't mind and they can eat while they finish up. When Pudding saw Taruto's pizza, she was surprised and asked if that is cheese with pineapple. When he said yes, she exclaimed that that is also her favorite pizza. When Lettuce saw that Pai has spinach and mushroom, she blushed and he noticed. Apparently that's her favorite pizza as well. When Pudding asked if Kisshu has anchovies and pepperoni, Ichigo tensed up and looked at the aliens, her face begging to say that he doesn't. But Pai answers that he does. Ichigo nearly fell off the step ladder for that.

After eating their lunch, the girls apparently brought some gingerbread loafs for them as well. Pai and Taruto reminded that they're not customers and they said that they know but they just wanted to spend their break with them. Lettuce, Pudding, and Ichigo brought up a chair to sit with them to prove their point. Pai and Taruto didn't mind and they gladly accept some of the loaf slices.

After hearing that Kisshu won't come to the party, Ichigo looked more irritated. "Well if that idiot doesn't want to spend Christmas with us and rather just stay in his room, hating the world, that's fine with me!" she exclaimed.

"Ichigo-san," Lettuce calls. Ichigo looks at her and Lettuce asks, "Do you like Kisshu? Is that why you're upset?" Ichigo's cheeks turn red and the attention was turn to her.

Ichigo is embarrassed as she tries to answer, "Wh-What are you, crazy?! I don't like him like that! He's only a friend and I like him as a friend but let's be logical here! This is the guy that tried to kill me six years ago, tried to make me mine, tried to kill my boyfriend countless of times, and is now trying to steal kisses from me and hugs me every waking moment with Aoyama-kun as the audience! The guy is nothing more than a perverted creep!"

Pudding points out, "Taru-Taru tried to kill me countless times, even used sensei's spirit_(see episode 20)_ but I like him, na no da." Taruto looks at Pudding, his face red when he said that and Pudding as a straight face.

Ichigo has a sweat drop on her head as she points out, "You do realize that you just confessed your feelings to him, right?" Pudding looks clueless.

Then Lettuce speaks next. "I think we should still invite Kisshu-san to the party."

Ichigo turns her attention to her and asks, "Did you not just hear what Taruto said? He's not coming out of the safety of his room until New Years."

"But Ichigo-san, it's Christmas. No one should be alone on Christmas."

"Well the guy wants to be alone for Christmas and if you ask me," Ichigo suddenly stands up and finishes, "I really don't give a damn." Then she walks away to the dressing room. They watch her walk away and they cringe when Ichigo slams the door.

Taruto look bored as he notes, "No doubt about it. The old hag has feelings for him."

Pai grabs Taruto's ear and pulls it down. "No one appreciates the name calling, Taruto." Taruto pulls his ear back and glares at Pai for that.

"But," Lettuce starts, getting everyone's attention. "I think we should still have Kisshu-san come to the party. He'll be lonely if Pai-san and Taruto-san are at the party and he's in the apartment."

Pudding puts on a gentle smile and says, "Lettuce onee-chan is so nice, na no da." Lettuce turns a small hint of red from the compliment.

Then Pai says, "Lettuce-san is right." They look at him and he continues. "The only way to get him out of that apartment is for him to have a really good reason to come out. For him to come to a Christmas party and endure it, the reason has to be really, really good."

"And what would that be?" Taruto asks. "The guy didn't come out when I mentioned that he could shop with Ichigo by himself today."

But both Pai and Taruto thought, _'But that's a big lie because he came out anyway.'_

Pudding looks like she's thinking with her hand under her chin and her eyes looking so focused on the subject. A few seconds passed and she has an idea. Her eyes widen at the thought and soon she could barely control her excitement.

"Pudding has an idea, na no da!" she screams. Taruto, Pai, and Lettuce jump out of their seats when she suddenly screamed and Pudding didn't waste time turning to her friends and declaring, "There will be a prize for each game, na no da! Everyone who wins a game will have the same prize, na no da."

Taruto asks, "Okay, what's the prize?"

Then Pudding puts a finger in front of her lips and tells him, "It's a secret, na no da. Just leave it to Pudding, na no da!"


	4. Provoking

**A/N: Hello everyone!! Christmas is coming closer and closer with each passing second! I need to start trucking if I want to finish this story by the end of the month!**

**Taruto: Good luck with that.**

**Pai: Good luck.**

**Kisshu: Good luck.**

**Tsukiko: I don't know if your guys are encouraging me or being sarcastic. Anyway, the next chapter is going to be a long one so it might take me a while. Still I hope to be done before the month is up.**

**Taruto: We were also being encouraging, just to let you know.**

**Pai: Indeed.**

**Kisshu: What else would we be?**

**Tsukiko: Now I seriously don't know if you're telling the truth or not!**

**Kisshu: Well I was being serious, Tsukiko-chan.**

**Tsukiko: Uh? 'Tsukiko-chan'?**

**Kisshu: You heard me. –kisses Tsukiko's cheek- Is that enough inspiration for your next chapter?**

**Tsukiko: -blushing red- Where's my pen and paper?! I need to write!!**

**Kisshu: Tsukiko-chan does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies that she uses in her stories. Thank you all for the amazing reviews so far and please keep them coming. We also appreciate the fact that you're all being patient with her on this story. School's out for her so she should be write a lot, if her mother doesn't decide to make her clean.**

**Taruto: Hey, Kisshu! What was the kiss for?**

**Kisshu: For inspiration.**

**Pai: Liar. You were just teasing her.**

**Kisshu: Hehe**

**Taruto: Now I feel sorry for her.**

**Kisshu: Thank you and please enjoy!!**

Ch. 4: Provoking

"We're leaving!" Taruto yells.

Kisshu, not pulling his eyes away from the _Black Cat_ manga he's reading, yells from the couch, "Bye! Have fun and don't bring back any leftovers."

Pai asks, "You sure that you do not wish to come with us, Kisshu?"

Kisshu looks down from his manga then and answers, "No! Now go before you miss the party!"

Taruto just shakes his head back and forth in disappointment of his answer. But without another word, both him and Pai were out the door and Pai closes the door and locks it. Kisshu goes back to reading his manga, now with peace and quiet.

It is now December twenty-fourth and the sun is about to set. Both Taruto and Pai just head out for the Mew Mew Christmas party, leaving Kisshu behind because he still refuses to go to it. He rather just stay in his apartment, read a manga, and possibly start blast off another war movie or the rock station on the radio if he hears even the slightest bit of Christmas music or caroling. He's sitting on the couch with his legs up on it as well and his back leaning against the corner of the chair. He's reading the twentieth volume_(random number, I lost track of how many volumes there really are)_ of _Black Cat_ and he's getting close to the end of it.

_Knock_

_Knock_

Kisshu cringes at the sound of that. He puts the book down and glares at the door. "Who the heck is that?!" He closes the book and puts it on the table. He gets up from the couch and goes to the pocket of his long jeans as he's walking to the door. "I know for a fact that Pai has the key to the apartment since Taruto claims that he 'lost' his." He puts the ring on and he appears human as he mumbles, "I swear if it's some kind of Christmas donation, I'm gonna kill that person or one of them."

But when he arrives at the door, he peaks through the hole to see who is out there. He see no one.

"What the hell?" he says, unlocking the door. He opens it and peaks his head out. He looks both down and up the hallway for anyone but he sees no one. "Must have been kids," he assumes. "Just what I need." He gets back in and closes the door. "Some damn kids playing tricks on me. Does that come with the Christmas theme torture package?"

But when Kisshu took a step back and turned around back to the couch, Pudding is right in front of him. She cheers out, "Merry Christmas, Kisshu onii-chan!!"

"AAAAHHHH!!!" Kisshu screams, suddenly seeing her. He takes steps back, until his back is up against the door and he pants from his sudden fast beating heart. Pudding continues to smile as she waves at him.

From what Kisshu can see, Pudding is wearing a weird outfit with a rather puffy skirt. She's wearing red buckle shoes with red and white stripe tights. Her skirt is red but under it is white and it could be at least eight inches long, which means that it's only covering four inches of her legs starting from her hips. Surprisingly, in this weather, her shirt is a bit short so it bares her midriff. But the shirt could be layered. The bottom layer is white with droopy sleeves that hang on her arms and her top layer shirt is a red tank top. On her arms are red and white stripe fingerless, arm warmers. Her hair is the same as always, which is short blond hair with four braids, and she has red and white eye shadow. Red for the bottom part of her eye lid and white for the top. She also has light pink lip gloss that only allow her lips to shine. Her look is very interesting and the white part of her outfit only makes her golden tan look darker. When Kisshu saw her shiny lips, all he could think is that Taruto might get a kick out of that.

"Hello, Kisshu onii-chan!" Pudding greets. "Pudding is here to escort you to the party, na no da! You can be my date, na no da!" To prove her point, she goes up to him and hugs his arm.

Kisshu blinks in surprise of this before saying, "You should be telling Taruto that. He hasn't left too long ago. You can still catch up to him."

"Pudding knows, na no da!" Pudding tells him. "Pudding's been watching this apartment for many hours now to wait for the chance for Taru-Taru and Pai onii-chan to leave."

Kisshu thinks, _'And they call me the stalker of the group.'_

Then Kisshu goes to the door knob and he turns it. "Alright then," he tells her. Her face brightens up as he gently pushes her outside. "Just let me get my coat. I'll be right out." As soon as she was outside, he closes the door and instantly locks it. He turns around to lean on the door and he lets out a deep breath. After that, he walks over to the couch and sits back down with his book in his hand. He goes back to the page he was on and continues to reading. He only had a second before he got another surprise.

"What are you reading, na no da?!" Pudding asks from behind the couch. Suddenly hearing her and suddenly seeing her, Kisshu jumps again.

"Whooaa!!"

But his jump causes him to fall off the couch and now half of his body is on the ground and the other half is on the couch's arm rest. Pudding only watches him fall off and land on his back. Then she walks over to him and bends down to him, "Why are you on the ground, Kisshu onii-chan?" He's still surprise that she's here.

"But how did you get back in?!"

Pudding looks confused. "I used the door silly, na no da." Kisshu pulls his legs off the couch and puts the manga book on the floor next to him as he sits down.

"But how did you get in?!" he corrects, looking at her in the eye. "I locked it!"

"I know you did, na no da," Pudding tells him. Then she raises up a key but not just any key. The key that Kisshu recognizes to be the key to the apartment. His eyes widen when he sees that. Then he looks behind Pudding and he sees that the door is open.

Kisshu looks back at Pudding and asks, "How did you get the key, Pudding?"

"Taru-Taru gave it to me," she answers. As soon as she said that, two veins appear on Kisshu's head.

'_Lost it, huh?'_ Kisshu questions in his mind with a dangerous tone. _'Not only am I going to kill him! I'm going to boil him, roast him, toast him, cut him up into tiny pieces and then feed him to the rats on the streets!'_

Pudding grabs Kisshu's arm and starts pulling it. "Come on, Kisshu onii-chan! We have to go to the party, na no da!"

Kisshu widens his eyes for a moment when he hears that. He pulls his arm away from Pudding's grip and he tells her, "I am going to tell you exactly what I told Pai and Taruto. I am NOT going to some stupid party where the theme is Christmas! I hate Christmas and I would very much appreciate it if every single one of you would leave me in peace until New Years!!"

Pudding blinks for a bit before asking, "Kisshu onii-chan doesn't want to come, na no da? He hates Christmas, na no da?"

Kisshu lets out a sigh to control his anger as he answers, "Yes. Kisshu onii-chan completely loathes the look of Christmas, the feel of Christmas, the smell of Christmas, the touch of Christmas, and the taste of Christmas! Now make like a good little mew mew and go to your party!"

But Pudding keeps pushing it. "But the party won't be the same without you, na no da! Everyone will be sad, na no da."

"Ha!" Kisshu lets out, not believing that. "All I do is stick to Ichigo like a koala bear and anyone can tell that she doesn't enjoy it because she still has that tree hugger for a boyfriend. If I see him this time of year, I might kill him." Then the light bulb appears above his head. "But yet again, that's not such a bad idea."

"Masaya onii-chan won't even be there, na no da," Pudding mentions.

As soon as she said that, Kisshu tenses up and his eyes went wide. He took a few seconds to progress that. Then he quickly turns to her and asks, "Are you sure?!" Pudding didn't answer right away. It was unexpected that Kisshu just went up to her. "Come on, Pudding! I need some details here! Are you sure that the stupid tree hugger won't be there?!"

Pudding answers, "He won't, na no da. He told Ichigo onee-chan that he had to go to the mainland to spend Christmas with some relatives, na no da."

Kisshu pulls away and looks to the side. "Then that means that Ichigo is by herself for the night." He has a big grin on his face and his eyes reveal that he likes the idea.

Pudding adds more details. "Ichigo onee-chan doesn't have a guy to escort her tonight, na no da. She'll be lonely, na no da."

Then Kisshu lost his smirk and his eyes widen in realization. He turns to Pudding and tells her, "Nice try, Pudding but it's going to take me more than that to get me to come to a _Christmas_ party. I'm not leaving this apartment and that's final!"

"Not even for the first place prize for the games, na no da?" Pudding asks. Now he looks a bit interested and curious.

"What prize?"

How Pudding answer is she goes up to his ear and whispers what the prize is. Seconds later, Kisshu's eyes widen to the size of entrée plates and his hair basically stood up. Pudding pulls back and laughs at his reaction.

"So will Kisshu onii-chan come now or will he pass the first place prize up, na no da?"

XxX

"Pai?"

Pai looks over his shoulder and he sees Ichigo and her Christmas outfit. She's wearing a Santa baby outfit. She has a red short, strapless dress on with a heart shape collar and white trimmings. Her skirt is, like Pudding's skirt, puffy and it looks eight inches long but it covers about four inches of skin on her legs. She has black belt on her waist, hanging over her hips and she has black heel, buckle shoes on her feet. On her hands are white gloves and she has a Santa hat on her head as well. Her short red hair has to be down in order for her hat to fit. Pai only raises a brow at the sight of her outfit and at the black eye liner, red eye shadow, and shiny lip gloss on her face. If only Kisshu could see her now, he might be drooling like a starving man and a golden brown turkey.

"Can we talk?" she asks.

Pai's expression relaxes and he asks, "What of?"

"I want to talk about Kisshu. I just want to understand something."

Pai stares at her for a moment longer and lets a second of silence pass. He turns completely to her and answers, "Sure. Shall we speak in private or is this good?"

"Private, please." Ichigo turns around walks away. Pai follows her, but as they were walking to the hallway that will lead to the dressing room, Lettuce saw them.

"Uh?" she lets out, noticing them. She keeps her eyes on them as they walk to the hallway and out of sight. Her eyes were surprised when she saw them but when they were gone, they narrow down and deep amount of sadness was revealed. She ended up looking away to the treats that she was arranging.

"Lettuce, are you alright?"

Lettuce looks up suddenly and she sees Ryou right in front of him. For the past six years, the only thing that changed was the amount of maturity he gained and the built of his body. Before, he was only well toned with a skinny figure but now he has more of a buffer built. His blond hair is still short and it still has it's beautiful golden texture and his blue eyes still sparkle like blue sapphire gems. Compared to last year, his skin has darken in color. Since the battle between the aliens is over, he got a bit more time to spend in the sun. Unlike the girls, who are wearing costumes of either a Christmas character or a Christmas treat, he's only wearing a black buttoned tank top with four sleeves; two drooping on his arms and two on his strong shoulders. His pants are tight jeans and he's wearing tennis shoes. Interesting attire, considering that it's cold. He must like the cold of winter as well as the heat of summer.

Lettuce turns red when she sees him. "Oh, yes I'm fine!" she answers with a sweet, reassuring smile on her face.

"Ryou!"

Ryou turns around and Mint shows up next to him. Mint has gotten a little taller, compared to six years ago. She's grown at least three or four inches since then. Her hair has also gotten longer as well. She's been letting it grow and now as it lays against her body, her hair is three inches pass her shoulder and it's wavy with a white ribbon head back. Right now, she's wearing a white outfit. Her shirt has a white collar and her sleeves are long and baggy. At the wrist, there is an elastic band in the sleeve. The trimmings of the dress are white fluffy fur and her shirt is shiny with glitter and snowflake designs. Her pants are ankle length, tight white jeans with white buckle heel shoes on her feet. When Mint shows up by Ryou, she hugs his arm and he allows her to. Over the past six years, Lettuce and Ryou became only friends and Mint and Ryou have been dating for three of those years.

Ryou greets, "Hello, Mint. Did you enjoy your reunion?"

"It was nice but I wished you were there? I love the decorations for the party, by the way."

"To your surprise, Ichigo bought the decorations."

"Well this is a big step of her creative outlet."

"Uh," Lettuce lets out, getting their attention. Mint and Ryou look at her and she says, "Please excuse me but I need to continue with helping Keiichiro take out the food."

"Oh, alright," Ryou says. Then with that, Lettuce turns around back to the kitchen.

Mint looks up at Ryou and asks, "Is she alright?"

"I hope so."

While in the hallway, both Ichigo and Pai are facing each other and Ichigo has her arms crossed in front of her chest like she's upset. "Now out with it! What exactly is Kisshu's problem?! I know you know!"

"It fascinates me that you worry about Kisshu, despite the fact that you claim you have no feelings for him and you've been rejecting him during our stay here," Pai says, avoiding the subject with a straight face.

Ichigo has a vein pulsing on her head as she repeats, "Like I said before, I only like him a friend and I worry about him like friend! Now tell me what is the real reason why he's not here!! Kisshu is very cheerful and carefree person. What could possibly kill that part of him around this part of year?!"

"You should already know," Pai tells her. Ichigo lost her angry vein then and she looks startled by what he just said.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"We're here, na no da!!"

"What the hell?! Kisshu?!"

Hearing that, both Pai and Ichigo took a frozen moment before running out of the hallway and into the café part. By the front door, they not only see Pudding but they also see Kisshu putt his coat up on the coat hanger. He's wearing a long sleeve, turtle neck green sweater and long jeans that are longer than his own legs. He doesn't have his ring on so his big elf like ears are visible and that's okay since it's on the Mew Mews at the party. Everyone is surprise to see him and Pudding, but Taruto and Pai are shocked to see him out. Kisshu's eyes scan the place and when he sees Ichigo, she notices and she can only think of what's going to happen next.

"Koneko-chan!" he squeals, running up to her. Before anyone knew it, he knocks her down and they start to fall for the ground.

"Aaahh!!" Ichigo lets out, falling down. Everyone turns around to see Kisshu on top of Ichigo with his arms around her and his cheek rubbing against hers. Ichigo yells, "Kisshu, get off me!!"

"No," he tells her, sweetly like usual. But he does let her go and lean on his hands to hover over her. "I've missed you, kitty cat. I haven't seen you for such a long time."

Ichigo grumbles, "Oh, I wonder why." Kisshu still only smiles. Then his eyes get a bit seductive as well as his voice.

"Tell me, kitty cat. Did you put on this sexy outfit for me?" He leans closer to her face till their lips are only inches apart as he asks, "You look so delicious, I could just eat you up right now."

Ichigo gets tense when Kisshu is this close to her. Instantly, she lifts her leg up and it hit the family treasures. As Kisshu wallows in pain of Ichigo's hit, Ichigo gets up and goes up to Pai, ticked off. "You know what, never mind! He looks perfectly fine to me!"

Then she feels arms circle around her neck from behind and she feels another body against hers. She looks up and it's Kisshu again. "Were you worried about me, koneko-chan?"

"Weren't you in pain a moment ago?!" Ichigo asks, a vein pulsing on her head.

Kisshu tells her, "Actually, I'm still in pain."

Taruto goes up to Pudding and he asks, "How the heck did you do it?! How is it that Kisshu is right here?!"

Pudding smiles and tells him, "I told him what the first place prize is, na no da."

Taruto's face looks confused. "What's the prize?"

She puts her index finger in front of her lips and she answers, "It's a secret, na no da." Then she changes the subject. "Do you like my outfit, na no da?"

That took him by surprise but as Taruto examines Pudding and her outfit, his whole face goes red and his heart skips a beat. Pudding's smile brightens when she sees his reaction as Taruto starts shuttering. "W-W-Well…ar-ar-are you s-s-supposed to be a..a..a candy cane?"

Pudding jumps up and claps. "Yes, na no da! Congratulations, na no da!" Then she jumps on him and hugs him. His heart starts pounding faster and harder now that he's touching a beautiful, Candy cane angel.

"Aah! Pudding! Get off me, NOW!"


	5. The Christmas Party Disaster

**A/N: Oh geeze! I'm finally done! Ah, my fingers hurt…**

**Kisshu: I have to do what?! I can't do that to Ichigo!**

**Tsukiko: My fingers are aching from writing that chapter and now you will do as it tells you to do or else!**

**Pudding: Pudding likes this script, na no da! Only the end, I'm unease about.**

**Tsukiko: Don't worry. All will be good the next chapter. But for now, rest! I'm just glad I'm finally done with this long one! Ugh! Someone say the author note for me, please!**

**Pudding: Tsukiko onee-chan does NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies she uses in her stories, na no da! She only comes up with the ideas and changes, na no da! We thank you all for the wonderful reviews and please keep them coming, na no da! She understands that the great holiday is coming up very soon so she doesn't expect a lot of you to read and review right away, na no da. She'll be busy as well so it might take her a while to upload the next chapter, na no da. But thank you and please enjoy this chapter, na no da!**

**Tsukiko: Thank you, Pudding. I believe Taruto is in the next room.**

**Pudding: Yeah!! Taru-Taru! –goes running off-**

**Kisshu: -sweat drops- Now I fear for Taruto's life now.**

**Tsukiko: Sleep…**

Ch. 5: The Christmas Party Disaster

"Let's play the games, na no da!" Pudding cheers.

"Yes!" Kisshu cheers to himself. "I've been waiting for this moment!" He said this as he was burning with enthusiasm and determination.

Pai grabs Taruto and pulls him to the side and he asks in whisper, "Did Pudding tell you what motivated him to come to this party? I thought I never see him act like this on Christmas."

Taruto whispers back, "She told me that she told him what the first prize is for the games."

"And that would be?"

"I don't know! She refuses to tell me!"

After Kisshu arrived, it was dinner time and things were a little…weird. Kisshu was acting like his old self, which was normal for those who were used to it but to those that knew he hates Christmas, except for Pudding, thought that his behavior was bizarre and totally not normal. He would do the usual, hang around Ichigo or rather hang _on_ her, he would laugh and cheer, enjoy the food, and bother Ichigo some more. Of course, Ichigo got upset about it but she seemed more upset about it than usual. From what her friends noticed, she was more annoyed about Kisshu's actions than all the other times he bothered her. Pai completely understood that it was probably because he told Ichigo that Kisshu hated Christmas and now he's here acting like how a five year old should act on Christmas. Anyone would be irritated about it and only goes to show how much Ichigo actually likes him. Now dinner is over and it's time for some fun, causing Ichigo to feel a tiny hint of terror.

Ichigo grabs Pudding and she looks like she's going to go on a ghost hunt. "Tell..me..exactly..what..the..prize..really..IS!!"

But Pudding motions her hand like she has her mouth zippered. "Sorry, Ichigo onee-chan! But if I can't tell Taru-Taru, then I can't tell you, na no da!"

"Please, Pudding!!" Ichigo begs. "The first prize might be a matter of life or death for me! Now tell me what it is!"

Still Pudding shakes her head and she slips from Ichigo's grasps. Before Ichigo could grab her again, Pudding announces, "Now let's all gather around and play our first game, na no da!! Our first game is… 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th grader', na no da!!"

Mint turns to her friends and asks, "Isn't that an American Show Game?"

Zakuro nods and tells her, "I personally don't like the game. It humiliates people on how much knowledge they've remembered from school."

Mint then says, "If onee-sama doesn't like the game, then I say move to a different game."

"Oh heck no!!"

Everyone turns to Kisshu and he's still burning with enthusiasm.

"Let's play this American game! It sounds like a piece of cake! I'll win this one easily."

All Ichigo thinks is, _'Ah, crap!'_

After the game…

"Damn it!" Kisshu grumbles, his voice muffled by the table.

Pudding announces, "And the winner is…Pai onii-chan!! Ryou onii-chan came in second place and Lettuce onee-chan came in third, na no da! Sorry, Kisshu onii-chan. You came in last, na no da."

Ichigo lets out a sigh of relief as Kisshu, sitting next to her, has a big vein on his head. She thinks like she's praying to god, _'Thank you, Pai. Thank you so much! Kisshu's motivation for the first prize was scaring me.'_

Getting irritated, Kisshu suddenly gets up and demands, "What's the next game, Pudding?!"

But Pudding goes up to him and says, "Sorry, Kisshu onii-chan, but Pai onii-chan needs to collect his prize before we start the next game, na no da."

Pai raises a brow and asks, "What's the prize?"

But Pudding grabs his wrist and says, "Come with me, na no da!" Then she pulls him off the chair. She leads him to one spot in the room and tells him, "Wait right here, na no da!" Then she goes back to the ground and grabs Lettuce's hand. "Lettuce onee-chan! You can give him his prize, na no da!"

As Pudding leads Lettuce to where Pai is, while everyone only has their eyes on those two, wondering where why Pudding is leading them there, Ichigo looks up and turns completely white at what she spots. _'Oh no! I was afraid of that,'_ she thinks.

Pudding leads Lettuce to stand right in front of Pai and both Lettuce and Pai look at each other for a minute. Then they look at Pudding when she announces, "Now for Pai onii-chan to receive his prize, na no da! The first place prize is…a kiss, na no da!!"

Both Pai and Lettuce tense up when they hear that and Lettuce turns beat red while the others are shocked to hear that. "What?!!" they ask, especially Taruto. But Ichigo and Kisshu didn't scream. Kisshu looks bored since he already knows the prize and Ichigo's face represents how much she dreads the idea of the first prize.

Taruto goes up to Pudding and asks, "What the heck are you thinking?! A kiss for a first prize?!"

Pudding looks confused by his reaction. "Why not, na no da? Everyone is basically madly in love with each other, na no da. Ryou onii-chan and Mint onee-chan are dating and Zakuro onee-chan and Keiichiro onii-chan are dating, na no da."

Taruto reminds, "Not everyone is dating! Pai and Lettuce aren't!"

"Neither are we, but you like me right Taru-Taru?" As soon as she asked that, Taruto's whole face turns red and a tea pot's worth of steam escapes from his ears. "Besides," Pudding starts before going on her tippy-toes to Taruto's ear, "it got Kisshu onii-chan here, right, na no da?" She turns to Kisshu and Taruto follows her gaze. They both stare at Kisshu and he notices it.

"Are you going to stare at me all day or are we going to hurry up and play the next game already?" he asks, a little bit irritated.

"Be patient, na no da!" Pudding tells him, like she's the grown up around here. "Pai onii-chan still needs to receive his kiss, na no da!"

Pai tries to calm down as he says, "You can't force Lettuce-san to kiss me." Lettuce looks up at him and he says, "You didn't even ask her if she wanted to."

"But I can make her, na no da," Pudding tells her with a smug look. She points up and both Pai and Lettuce look up. Above them is the sole reason why Lettuce has to kiss Pai now. Above them is a Christmas mistletoe hanging above them from the ceiling with a red ribbon tied into a big bow on it. Both Pai and Lettuce know what a mistletoe means and the know what's supposed to happen if two people stand under it.

"But Pudding-san!" Lettuce calls, the red still on her cheek. Pai looks at her and Lettuce has her closed hand in front of her face like the shy girl she is. "Pai-san I'm sure doesn't…I mean..he probably doesn't want a kiss..from me."

"I don't mind."

Lettuce's eyes widen when she hears that and she looks up at Pai. He's looking away and he looks a bit shy as well, he just doesn't have the blush on his face. He looks back at her and says, "But it's all up to Lettuce-san. If she doesn't want to, she doesn't have to." Lettuce's eyes widen when she hears that and the blush on her face deepens.

Then Pudding got an idea. She goes to Taruto's ear and whispers. He listens and a few seconds later, when she got to the good part, a big smirk widens on his face. Pudding winks at him and then turns to Lettuce and Pai. "Well give him his first prize, Lettuce onee-chan!"

Kisshu yells, "I'm dying of old age here!"

Ichigo smacks him at the back of the head for that. She grabs his collar and pulls him to her face. She whispers angrily at him, "Give her a break, you idiot! This is a very embarrassing to Lettuce! She's going to be kissing a guy in front of everyone!"

Then Kisshu puts on a grin and uses one finger to go under her chin. "Are you going to be that embarrassed when it's my turn, Ichigo?"

Ichigo's eyes widen for a bit and her cheeks got a little bit red from that. She ends up pushing Kisshu, causing him to fall off his chair as she tells him, "Don't get cocky, idiot!"

Lettuce looks down a little bit longer before looking up at Pai. She tells him softly, "Don't move." She places her hand on his shoulder and tip toes slowly up to his face. Just like Pudding and Taruto thought. She was aiming for his cheek, a small peck on his cheek would be his prize but since they're going really slow, that gave Pudding and Taruto an excuse to shove.

Pudding pushes Lettuce and Taruto pushes Pai as Pudding says, "Hurry up, na no da! I want a kiss too before the night is out, na no da!" Taruto turns red when he hears that but he pushed Pai enough for Pudding to push Lettuce. Instead of the cheek, both Pai and Lettuce ended up sharing a kiss on their lips. Their eyes are open and wide from the feel of each other's lips and Pudding and Taruto back away to see the kiss. The girls look at the two of them, their eyes glistening from the kiss and now it looks like a good picture. A sweet Christmas kiss under the Christmas mistletoe.

When Lettuce and Pai pull away from each other, both of them have their hands on their lips and they look away. Lettuce is really red and there is a hint of blush on Pai's cheeks as well. When they looked back at each other, they look at each other their shoulder and Pai took that time to analyze Lettuce and her outfit. She's not dressed as an object. She's wearing the colors green and white. She has white sandals on her feet and a long green skirt that's hanging right over her hips with a white belt. Her top is most peculiar. It actually reminds Pai a lot of his people's traditional clothing. She has a green material covering her midriff so that it doesn't look like she's baring her stomach but it is tight. Her shirt is short and it's a tank top so that's probably why she has material covering her stomach. Her shirt is also white and she has green and white stripe arm warmers on her arms to keep her warm. Her forest green hair is the same two braids and she's wearing her big round glasses, making her look that much cuter. Under her glasses is green and white eye shadow and black eye liner. Finally, her lips have lip gloss on them and from what Pai just experiences, they're green apple flavored. The flavor almost suits her.

Pai and Lettuce know that they have to say something but the only thing that comes to Pai's mind is, "I like your outfit."

Lettuce looks down and says, "Thank you. Mint-san and Pudding-san helped me." Then they look away from each other, now more red than ever.

Finally Pudding cheers, "Time for the next game, na no da!! The next one is Twister!!"

Shortly after she said that, Ichigo and Kisshu got up and Ichigo collects her girlfriends as Kisshu collects his friends. They huddle together and Ichigo says to her friends, "I need you guys to do everything you can to makes sure that Kisshu doesn't win any of the games!"

Mint tells her, "Come on, Ichigo. Swallow your pride and accept the kiss."

"If you were asked to kiss another guy besides Ryou, you wouldn't do it!"

"Sorry, Ichigo onee-chan," Pudding tells her. Ichigo looks at Pudding and she says, "But I made the arrangements on who is allowed to kiss who. If Lettuce onee-chan wins, then she gets to kiss Pai onii-chan again," Lettuce turns beet red when she hears that, "Zakuro onee-chan gets to kiss Keiichiro onii-chan, same thing goes for Keiichiro onii-chan, Mint onee-chan gets to kiss Ryou onii-chan, same thing goes for them, Pudding gets to kiss Taru-Taru, Taru-Taru gets to kiss me, Ichigo onee-chan gets to Kisshu onii-chan, and Kisshu onii-chan gets to kiss Ichigo onee-chan, na no da. Sorry but I already made the rules." Lettuce is still red as now Ichigo turned to stone.

Kisshu tells his friends, "I need you guys to help me out here! I need to win first prize otherwise what's the point of me coming here?!"

"You sure that you weren't here to see Ichigo in _that_ outfit?" Taruto asks.

"Seeing her in that amazing outfit is a bonus."

Taruto lets out a sigh and shakes his head in disappointment. "Alright, alright. I'll try but you know that it's going to cost ya."

Kisshu grins and then ruffles Taruto's hair. He says, "Thanks, kid!" Taruto shoves his hand away and fixes his hair while glaring at him for that. But Kisshu ignores that and looks up at Pai. "What about you, Pai?" But when he didn't hear him say anything, Taruto also looks up at Pai and both aliens see that Pai's still red and in a daze. Taruto waves his hand in front of Pai's eyes and Kisshu snaps his fingers by Pai's ears. "Ah, Pai? Helllooo, anyone in there?" No response.

Kisshu leans over to Taruto and whispers, "I think you and Pudding sent Pai to La-La land when you made him kiss Lettuce on the lips."

Taruto whispers back, "I never thought I lived to see this day."

After bringing Pai back to reality and asking him to lose on purpose, the games resumed and Kisshu was in it to win. However at Twister, Pudding won. Mostly because of her flexibility thanks to performing on the streets. Mint won second because of her flexibility to ballet but she couldn't get all of the dots. Kisshu got irritated again and Pudding didn't hesitate to drag Taruto under the mistletoe and kissing him on the lips. He turned a really deep shade of red and Pudding had her hands on both sides of his face to keep him close. The girls found it cute again but Kisshu found it a bit annoying that he didn't win again. Ichigo on the other hand was relieved.

Next game was Battle Ships, something that Kisshu thought he had a chance in. However, the person who had the best battle plan was Ryou and Kisshu got second place. It irritated him to no end that he only got second and he had to remind himself that there is always the next game about twenty times. When Ryou collected his prize, Mint didn't hesitate.

Under the mistletoe, Mint wipes her nails on her sleeve. She said with a snobbish voice, "Well he is my boyfriend. I'm sure that one kiss wouldn't hurt." Acting like her snotty self again but after a moment she said that, she grabbed Ryou's collar and pulled him to her lips. She gave him a passionate kiss and the guys, and Ichigo, were blinking in surprise on how vicious she actually is as the others were smiling or letting out a dreamily sigh at the scene as Ryou kissed her back and holds her close.

Ichigo thinks, _'I swear every kiss I've seen so far looks like a kiss they might share on their wedding day.'_ Then she looks at Kisshu and how disappointed he looks. He's probably disappointed because he's seeing everyone else having a kiss and he hasn't gotten one yet. Ichigo had to admit that she does feel pity but she still has her pride as Masaya Aoyama's faithful girlfriend.

Next game was Mouse Trap, another strategy game. Kisshu tried his hardest again and he won…second. Keiichiro won first by one single move and again, Kisshu was ready to flip the table out of frustration. Taruto and Pai had to ask everyone to excuse them for a moment why they try calm him down for the next game. While they went outside, the mews heard screaming only seconds later. It was actually hard for Zakuro to give Keiichiro his kiss.

"One move!" Kisshu screams. "One stupid ass move!!"

"Stop screaming you idiot! They can hear!" Taruto yells.

"I don't care!! Let them all hear!! Hey, Keiichiro!! I think you cheated!! Admitted it!!"

Keiichiro only smiled a nervous smile while Ichigo is shaking her head in disappointment. She mumbles, "Talk about sore loser."

Then Zakuro begins to walk towards the door. "I'll be right back." Before anyone could stop her, she was outside the door and she closed the door gently behind her.

Mint tenses up and says, "I think Kisshu just awaken the sleeping wolf inside her." Ichigo gulps.

Lettuce asks weakly, "Do you think that Kisshu-san would be alright out there?"

"Who knows," Ryou answers before taking a sip of his eggnog.

Pudding lets out a humming noise before scratching her cheek. "I think we should let him win." Ichigo tenses up at the sound of that. "Or let Ichigo onee-chan win."

Ichigo grabs Pudding and shakes her shoulders. "Are you out of your mind?! I have a boyfriend! I can't have him kiss me or me kissing him!"

"Masaya onii-chan is on the mainland, na no da," Pudding reminds. "What he doesn't know would hurt him, na no da."

"But then I'll feel guilty about it!" Ichigo adds.

Mint goes to Pudding and tells her, "She has a point, Pudding. Even though I like the idea, having a kiss and arranging who the kiss is give from was a bad idea, especially when one of us has a boyfriend who isn't present."

"Thank you, Mint," Ichigo says, gratefully.

Then Pudding reminds, "But if Kisshu onii-chan doesn't get a kiss or gives a kiss soon, then he'll be really cranky, na no da. He didn't even wanted to come to the party until I told him about the first prize, na no da."

Keiichiro and Ryou look at Pudding in surprise when they heard that as Mint raised a brow. She asked, "What do you mean that he didn't want to come until you told him about the first prize?"

"Exactly as I said, na no da," Pudding answered. "But don't ask me the reason why, na no da. Pudding doesn't know, na no da."

"Ichigo," Mint calls, looking up at her. "You wouldn't happen to know why, do you?"

Ichigo shrugs her shoulders. "I'm still confused on why he didn't want to come. Truth be told, he hates the whole Christmas season and claimed that he wouldn't come out until New Years."

"Now that sounds unlike him," Mint notes.

Ichigo agrees, "I know."

Then the door opens. They look up at the door and they see Kisshu entering and he looks like the life was drained out of him or something. He was dragging himself in and Taruto and Pai look a bit shaken as Zakuro enters calmly through the door and gently closes it as being the last person in. Similar to Lettuce, Zakuro is just wearing the festive colors of the holiday. Her shoes are green heals with golden buckles, her dress looks like it could be two parts for her bottoms is red with green trimmings and her top, which looks like a heart shape collar corset, is green with red trimmings. Her dark purple hair is up in a bun but the hair strands in front of both of her ears is down as it gently rests against her bare shoulders. What makes her different from the others is that her makeup isn't festive, except maybe her lips. Her lips are red and shiny from the lip gloss layer and her eyes have dark eye shadow with black eye liner. She looks like Ms. Christmas of the group with a very scary personality. Everyone watch with blink eyes as the guys walk to a table.

Kisshu collapses on a chair and his voice is muffled from the table as he asks, "Can we start the next game please?"

Zakuro tells him, "One moment." Then he goes up to Keiichiro and gently gives him a kiss on his cheek. Pudding and Mint look at the scene with glittering eyes and they let out a deep sigh as Lettuce smiles and Ichigo is still staring at how dead Kisshu looks. Zakuro's kiss is probably the first kiss that was given on the cheek. So much like her.

After the kiss, the next game became Trouble and because Kisshu wasn't trying as hard because he was still recovering from Zakuro's _thing_, he ended up in third and some of the mews weren't even trying to win. However, Lettuce got all the luck in this game and ended up winning first.

"But I already got a kiss," Lettuce tried to tell Pudding, her cheeks red because she still remembered the kiss she already shared with Pai. Pai even turns a tiny hint of red from the remembrance.

Pudding tells her, "Sorry, Lettuce onee-chan but Pai onii-chan got his kiss, na no da. Now that you won, he has to give you a kiss, na no da." She pushes Lettuce under the mistletoe as Taruto decides to help by pushing Pai to the mistletoe as well. "Now enjoy it, na no da!"

Lettuce and Pai look at each other for a moment before turning red from the last time. Lettuce and Pai look down and Lettuce is fiddling with her skirt as Pai is fiddling with his fingers. "So, ah…"Lettuce tries to say. Pai looks up at her as she's still looking down. "Wh-What do we do now?"

Then to her surprise, his hand goes to her face. She gasps from the contact as he lifts her head up a bit to look at him. He tells her, "At least I know that there are other ways to receive a kiss." Before she could say anything, he leans to her forehead and his lips press against her forehead. His eyes are closed to enjoy the feel of her soft skin and Lettuce's eyes are wide from the feel of his warm lips. Not interfering this time, Pudding goes all goo-goo over it as Taruto smiles in approval. Even Kisshu had to gently smile at it.

"At least he's making progress," he mumbles softly. Hearing him, Ichigo looks at him as he continues, "The kiss came shorter this time than the last time. I think that's why Pudding and Taruto decided to give a little nudge. Lucky dog." Ichigo could have smiled with him and agreed but when she stared at Kisshu's slightly sad expression, she ended up feeling a small hint of guilt. Funny thing for her was that she didn't know where the guilt was coming from.

Next game was a fast food eating contest, of fruit cake. Keiichiro brought out a plate of fruit cake to everyone. Pudding explained that they waited till after a few whiles after eating dinner to start this game. Mostly because she figured that everyone would like to burn some of the consumed food before eating some more. Ryou and Keiichiro decided to run the game since Pudding also wanted to eat the fruit cake. As soon as Keiichiro said go, Ichigo grabbed a piece and stuffed it into her mouth. Since he was sitting right next to her, Kisshu noticed Ichigo's fast eating movements and stared at how she's just stuffing her face with fruitcake. Keiichiro and Ryou were even blinking in surprise of seeing this. When time was up, Ichigo was leaning on the table, exhausted as Kisshu was staring at Ichigo in concern. Ichigo had one piece left as Kisshu had four left, thanks to the delay of staring at Ichigo's weird starving behavior. But the winner was, shockingly Zakuro. Her food was gone and she dapped her lips with a napkin.

"How the heck did you eat all of that?!" Taruto asked, staring at the empty plate and Zakuro.

Zakuro simply answered, "Just because I'm a model, doesn't mean that I don't eat. I happen to like Keiichiro's fruit cake the most on the holidays."

Keiichiro smiles and says, "Zakuro-san, you're too kind."

Kisshu leans to Ichigo and asks, "Hey, kitty. You alright?"

Ichigo pushes herself and she looks sick. She nods. "Uh huh." But right after she said that, her eyes widen in surprise and her mouth instantly covered her mouth. She got up and ran to the hall, where the bathroom should be. The group stared at her as she was running to the bathroom.

Kisshu stared at the group before standing up as well. "I think I should go check on her." Then he goes over to the bathroom and the group watches him leave as well.

Mint shakes her head in disapproval. "Ate too much fruit cake at once. When is she going to learn that you can't win like that?"

Ryou goes over and tells her, "You should talk. You only had three out of the thirty pieces."

"Hey! I still have to do those ballet lifts somehow."

Kisshu opens the door to the bathroom, which happens to be unlock and he asks, "Koneko-chan?" He peeks in and the smell of vomit hit his nose like a fallen piano. He backs away for a bit but then he sees the sight of Ichigo leaning over the toilet and he can hear her throwing up. "Ichigo?"

He opens the door wider and he enters. He kneels down besides her and rubs her back. "Never thought you were that determined to win, koneko-chan," he says, trying to sound cocky. "You must want that kiss really badly."

Ichigo coughs for a bit before saying, "Shut up, idiot! I only tried to win to give you a break." Kisshu lost all sense of cockiness when he heard that. He looks at Ichigo, startled by her words as she sits up straight. She coughs a little more before speaking, her voice sounding horsy from vomiting. "I told the girls to win at all costs because I didn't want to kiss you or get kissed by you. I still have a boyfriend but you looked really frustrated and I heard that getting that kiss is the only reason why you're here. So I thought I give you a break and try to win. That way you can at least kiss my cheek or something and I don't have to kiss you." Then she vomits again and Kisshu stares at her in more astonishment. Seconds later, his eyes narrow about half way closed and he has a small smile on his face.

"You know then?" he asks.

Ichigo looks up at him at that bit. "Uh?"

Then his hand is under her chin and he's leaning really close to her lips. "I can give you the kiss now if you like, koneko-chan." Then he leans closer to her, his eyes already closed and her eyes widening.

Then she pushes him. "Not when my breathe smells like vomit." Kisshu looks at her surprise as she weakly smiles at him. "You go and play the next game. I'll be out in a moment. I have mouthwash so I'll at least have minty breath when you win." Then she lets out a small chuckle.

Kisshu asked, "Why do you carry mouthwash, koneko-chan?"

"Can't I be prepared once in a while?"

"Heh." Kisshu smiles at her again and then crawls to her. She's confused as his lips kissed her cheek. Her eyes are wide from the touch as he pulls away and winks at her while sticking his tongue at her. "I figure I give you a prize for working so hard on that last game. See you under the mistletoe." Then he gets up and walks away to leave her to her vomiting. But when he was gone, Ichigo gently touches her cheek, still feeling the warmth of his lips against her skin. Actually that felt really…nice.

Kisshu came out to the others to tell them that Ichigo says to start the next game without her because eating too fast is causing her to throw up. From what the others notice was that he seemed to be in a lot better mood and his fire came back, begging for the next game. Pai and Taruto assumed that something good must have happened for the fire to return, burning with enthusiasm once again but brighter than ever. The next game was Uno. The others thought that this game was a bit boring compared to the others before but Kisshu didn't seem to mind. The next surprising thing was that he seemed like he was actually winning. But it was when he started winning that things started to go downhill.

'_Just one more card,'_ Kisshu thought, excitedly. _'Just one more card and I win. Hehe! Koneko-chan, I hope you're done soon because it's our turn under the mistletoe.'_

Pai puts down a wild card and calls the color, "Red."

Kisshu has a wide grin on his face as he thinks, _'Perfect! I was hoping he called that color!'_

Next was his turn and he puts the card down triumphantly. The others look in shock was his red four card as he stands up and cheers, "Uno!! Ha ha!! I won! Whahoo!!"

"Oh boy," Taruto grumbles, sweat dropping at the eighteen year old alien's behavior.

Pai turns to him and says, "Well now he got what he wanted. He's finally getting that kiss."

"Let's just hope that Ichigo is done throwing up."

"Did someone call?"

The group turns around to see Ichigo coming out of the hallway and Kisshu stops cheering to look as well. In fast speed, Kisshu stands in front of Ichigo and grabs her hand. "Hey, koneko-chan! Did you use the mouthwash yet?"

Ichigo gets a sweat drop as well as she asks, "I take it you won, huh?"

"You bet!" Then he leans his forehead against hers and he has a seductive grin on his face again. "I hope you're ready to give the kiss of a life time."

Ichigo pushes him away and tells him, "Don't get too cocky. It's going to be a kiss on the cheek, nothing more and nothing else."

"A kiss is still a kiss, koneko-chan."

Pudding gets up and yells, "Enough talk, na no da! Now move to the mistletoe, you two, na no da!!"

Kisshu, still grasping Ichigo's hand, leads her to the mistletoe and they both stand under it. The others stayed in their seat and watch as Ichigo has some blush on her cheeks. She warns him, "After this, don't you dare mention this to another living soul, you got that?"

Kisshu tells her, "I promise." He just smiles and Ichigo is now having a hard time trusting him on keeping the kiss a secret. The worst part was that her chest is starting to feel weird.

'_Wh-What is this pounding feeling?'_ she wonders, putting her hands on Kisshu's shoulders. _'The last time I felt this was when I was so nervous on asking Aoyama-kun to a date. I haven't felt this feeling in a while after that. How is it that I'm feeling it now?'_ Then she starts to tip-toe to his cheek. _'And why with Kisshu?'_

_Ding-dong_

Ichigo stops and turns to the door. In fact everyone turns to the door as the door bell continues to ring.

_Ding-dong_

"Who could that be?" Ichigo wonders, standing with her feet flat on the floor. Her hands are still on Kisshu's shoulders as Pudding gets off from her chair.

"I'll get it, na no da!" she yells, running to the door. The team watches her as she first opens the door a little bit to peek outside and then she gasps at what's outside. She opens the door wider and takes steps back. "Masaya onii-chan?!"

Pai and Taruto's eyes widen a bit when they heard that and especially when they see him entering the café. The girls are also surprised to see him as Kisshu's eyes widen to the size of entrée plates at the sight of him. Then a flash of memory appeared in his head.

"_The Blue Knight, na no da!"_

"_Damn you!"_

_**Cling**_

_**Clang**_

_**Slash**_

"_Kisshu! Damn it…"_

"_Don't go. It's going to reach the critical point soon. You'll be hurt too!"_

As the memory flashed before his eyes, his should ached a bit, causing it to twitch.

Masaya greets, "Good evening, Pudding-chan. Cute outfit."

Pudding nods her head. "Thank you, na no da."

Ichigo lets out a slow gasp before sliding her hands off of Kisshu's shoulders, his shoulder suddenly aching more when they were off. "Aoyama-kun!" she calls, rushing up to him.

He turns to the side and smiles at the sight of his beloved girlfriend. "Ichigo!" She stands in front of him and he tells her, "Wow. You look amazing."

Ichigo looks down at her outfit from the compliment but then looks back up at him and asks, "What are you doing here? I thought you said that you're spending Christmas with your relatives."

"I did but I was in New York, Ichigo. Christmas was, to me, yesterday. I thought I surprise you by coming back in time for Christmas here," he answers. Then he wraps his arms around her and her eyes widen from the warmth of his arms. "I've missed you, Ichigo."

Pai and Taruto quickly turn to Kisshu and his eyes are really wide and his mouth is closed. Very slowly his right hand rises up and it presses against his left shoulder, the place where they know is his scar from Christmas six years ago. As Kisshu continued to stare at Masaya and Ichigo, more memories flashed in his head.

"_Hey Kisshu! Wake up!"_

"_That's a pretty deep wound. We should treat him as soon as possible, or he'll die."_

"_Really?"_

Masaya broke away from Ichigo and smiled sweetly at her as Ichigo appears to be still progressing the idea that Masaya is right in front of her after he said that he was going to spend Christmas with his relatives.

"_Although it was only a little, the mew Aqua power has poured across the dimensions and into my body. I feel I have been filled with great power; even stronger than I had before. I no longer acquire his assistance."_

"Wow," Masaya breathes out as he looks at the decorations. He walks a little deeper into the room with Pudding and Ichigo accompanying him as he compliments, "The decorations are amazing. Candy Land theme, right?" Then he turns to Ichigo and says, "You told me that you were asked to do the decorations this time, right? It's beautiful."

Ichigo gently smiles and says, "Thank you, Aoyama-kun. You don't think that the theme is too clique?"

"No," he answers. "I think it's perfect for the café."

"_Stop talking nonsense!"_

Masaya looks at the tree at the corner of the room and compliments, "Even the tree is beautiful." The tree that stands with glistening colored lights of red, green, yellow, orange, and blue with candy ornaments hanging on the branches. On the top of the tree is a golden star, a tradition ornament on the top of the tree. Masaya looks back at Ichigo and asks, "Did you decorate that as well?"

Ichigo puts on a nervous smile as she answers, "No. We all decorated on it."

Then all of a sudden, the lights went out.

"Ah!" Mint lightly screams from the sudden black out.

Pai and Taruto start to panic as everyone hears Zakuro ask, "What just happened?"

Ryou asks, "Is there a snow storm out there?"

Masaya answers, "No. There's hardly any snow outside."

"Hold on, na no da!" Pudding yells, now sounding like she's near where Mint is. She must have moved to find Taruto or something. Ichigo starts to back away as well as a strong scent hit her nose. Pudding asks before anyone else, "Do you smell…paint, na no da?" Everyone goes quiet for a bit and now everyone is smelling it too.

"Yeah I do," Mint answers, touching her nose from the smell.

Before Ichigo could smell anything, she felt a hand grab her arm and someone suddenly pulls her away from the others. She doesn't scream for she's more confused of what the heck is going on.

Ryou asks, "Where is it coming from?"

When the hand stops pulling Ichigo from the others, she was going to ask who this person is when she suddenly feels lips pressed against hers. As someone is kissing Ichigo, something catches on fire, the whole Christmas tree. The mew mews and the guys turn to the flaming Christmas tree when it's light burn their eyes and they can feel the heat of it burning. From the light, Ichigo now sees that the one kissing her is Kisshu with his hands grasping her arms, his eyes closed and his lips pressed firmly against hers.

"Keiichiro! Mint! Zakuro! Get some water!" Ryou screams.

"Right!" they answer, running to the kitchen.

Then Ryou turns to Masaya and yells, "Come with me to the basement! Something must have hit the generator!"

"Yes," Masaya answers, nodding. But when he turned around to follow Ryou, he sees something at the corner of his eye. He doesn't run and he stares as he sees Kisshu and Ichigo kissing.

'_Kisshu?!'_

Kisshu then breaks the kiss and he looks directly into Ichigo's eyes. When she looked at his eyes, they were very scary and very cold. Even his voice was just as cold and scary as he said, "Now that I collected my prize, there's no reason for me to stay here." Before Ichigo knew it, Kisshu pushed her to the wall. Her back hits the wall with a big _thump_ and when she looks at him, his expression hardly changed. "Now go spend this cursed holiday with your boyfriend, like always."

Before she knew it, he teleported away and the lights came back on. Her eyes burn from the brighter light of the café as she slowly opens them. Then Masaya was standing right in front of her.

"Ichigo! Are you alright?" he asks, his hands gently grasping her arms. He lifts her up a bit and she nods.

"Yes, I'm fine," she answers. To show his relief, Masaya pulls Ichigo into a hug and holds her tight.

"Thank goodness," he breathes out.

Ichigo hugs him back but she doesn't melt under his hold like she should.

"Eyyyyyaaaa!!!"

Ichigo and Masaya break the hug to turn around and they see that Mint was the one screaming. "Look at the decorations!"

Ichigo and Masaya look around and they see the decorations completely destroyed. There were remains on the wall where they're supposed to be but most of it was on the ground. From what they also noticed was what was on the walls in black paint. There were signs of a Christmas tree with a big X on them and there was a saying: 'Christmas SUCKS!' or 'Christmas equals misery!' Ichigo is surprised by the decorations and the writing but that was it. She was only surprised. Not shocked, upset, or traumatized. She was only surprised as Masaya looked angry.

"How dare he do this after all of your hard work!" he cursed. Ichigo then looks at the misery message and she stares at it.

Pudding looks at Masaya and asks, "Who, na no da?"

"Kisshu," he accused. "He distracted us to hurt Ichigo!" Then Ichigo pulls away from his hold and he notices as she walks towards the misery message. "Ichigo?" he calls, confused. But she doesn't answer right away.

Ichigo walks up the misery message, her nose burning with the scent of paint and her mind a blank. When she stands before it, she says, "I'm fine, Aoyama-kun. He only pushed me. I'm perfectly fine."

After she said that, Lettuce looks around. "Uh?" she lets out. Then she asks, "Where's Taruto-kun and Pai-san?"

When she asked that, the others looked around as well, but Ichigo still doesn't remove her eyes from the misery message. Pudding asks, "Taru-Taru? Where did you go, Taru-Taru?"

Ichigo raises her hand and she gently touches the letters, causing her hand to turn black. _'Misery,'_ she wonders. _'What does he mean 'misery'?'_


	6. His Six Year Pain

**A/N: Hi guys!! It's Christmas! Whahoo!! Anyway, now that Christmas has passed, I need to wrap this story up, and fast! My fingers still ache but I can't worry about that now! I have to finish this story or I won't be able to update the others!**

**Mint: And you have so many chapters for 'Family Reveals Memories', too.**

**Tsukiko: Oh, shut it Mint! Who asked you?! Anyway, I do NOT own TMM or the songs or the movies I use in my stories. I only come up with the ideas and the chapters. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and please keep them coming! I'm sorry that my chapters are getting so long, but I can't help it! I'm also sorry that this chapter isn't really all that funny but this is another heart-to-heart kind of chapter. Thank you and please enjoy!!**

Ch. 6: His Six Year Pain

"Kisshu!!" Taruto calls, as soon as both him and Pai teleported into the apartment. But from what they can see, the room is empty.

All Pai and Taruto sees is the kitchen/living room area. If they had entered from the front door, the kitchen area would have been on the left side as the living room is on the right. There are at least three chairs and a TV circling each other; the TV up against the wall, a chair on both the left and the right side of it, and a couch between both chairs and is across the TV of the little circle. The floor is made of light tan wood to match with the kitchen on the right side. The kitchen has the usual; a stove/oven, a refrigerator, cupboards, and about two counters- one counter for cutting and such for the ingredients of meals to be ready and the second counter has three tall chairs for the aliens to sit on when it's time to eat. The tiles of the kitchen are white and the counters and cupboards are the same pale color of wood as the floor.

Seeing that Kisshu is not in either part of the main room, Pai and Taruto walks closer to the end, where there is not only Kisshu's room but also a hallway that leads to Pai and Taruto's room and a huge bathroom and a closet. Pai and Taruto didn't check Kisshu's room because they saw steam leaking out from the cracks of the bathroom door. Pai and Taruto eye each other before marching to the bathroom. If steam is leaking out, then it's a no brainer that Kisshu is in there. Instead of knocking and asking if Kisshu is even there when they got there, Pai and Taruto just open the door and wack it open. Kisshu jumps from the sound of the door hitting the wall, causing the hot water he's sitting in to jump up as well.

He yells, "Didn't you two ever heard of 'knocking'?!"

"Cut the crap," Taruto yells. Apparently, the sight of Kisshu in a bathtub full of hot water, naked_(I'm getting another nosebleed)_ doesn't seem to bother him or Pai one bit. "Mind telling me what the hell that was?!"

Kisshu seems to mind as he's glaring at both his friends for their intrusion. He looks away and huffs before saying, "I refuse to talk to you two while I'm trying to take a bath. Maybe if I feel like it, I'll explain myself when I come out. Now leave me in peace!"

But Pai and Taruto eye each other again, probably having the same thought. Kisshu didn't look up, even when he heard the door closed. He figured that they left so he lets out a sigh and relaxes. Then he heard water hitting something and he felt movement in the water. When he looks up, he tenses in shock when he sees both Taruto and Pai in the tub with him, also naked_(crap! Another nosebleed)_.

Taruto tells him, "Not a chance. Explain right now!"

Pai lets out a content sigh as he says, "This feels good after being in the cold."

Kisshu yells, "I'm sorry, but who asked you?!!"

The bathroom is also pretty big. Compared to the common hotel rooms, their apartment could almost be mistaken for a royal suite room in a hotel. The only thing that's missing is a huge big bed in the living room with a Jacuzzi. Their bathroom is also white with white tile walls, a pale wood counter, a mirror above the counter, a toilet next to the counter, and a huge bath tub not too far from the toilet. The only thing that's in between the toilet and the bathtub is a trash can. The bathtub is huge since it's able to hold three aliens, two of them being full grown. On the counter are three toothbrushes, one green, one red, and one purple in their own matching cups, a hair brush, some hair ties, mouthwash, and floss. Across the counter on the wall is a rail where the white hand towel, Kisshu's green body towel, Taruto's red body towel, and Pai's purple body towel hangs.

"This is really embarrassing!" Kisshu tells them. "Get out!!"

"I can't believe you're getting self conscious about this," Taruto says. "We did this a lot of times when we were kids."

"Yeah! When we were _kids_!!"

"You still didn't have a problem when we were teens and we still had to share baths."

"Technically, you were still a kid! Second, we had to take baths because it was only the three of us in that ship and our so-called leader told us that we had to hurry and find more Mew Aqua! Taking baths at the same time saved us some time."

"So what's the problem now?" Pai asks, stepping in. Kisshu didn't say anything to that. He actually didn't have a good reason to explain why he wanted them out, besides that he just needed some space but he knows that they're not going to give him that space. Pai then tells him, "You can't kick us out now, Kisshu. You might as well start talking."

Kisshu huffs again and looks away with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You do," Taruto corrects. "After cutting the power off, you caused us a lot of trouble! We tried to turn the power back on right after you turned it off but by the time we got the power on, you were gone and you already painted on the walls and you destroyed the decorations of the party!!"

Pai adds, "Not to forget that you treated Ichigo harshly, after she was willing to give you a kiss."

Kisshu huffs again like a little kid. He then moves to the edge of the tube and reached over to grab a white bowl. He fills it up with water and pours it on himself. His dark emerald green hair darkens from the water as water drops drip from his hair. Some of the water roll down his skin, either from his neck to his back to the tub or from his face to down his neck and down his chest back to the tub water. He lets the bowl flout in the tub and he uses one hand to comb his hair back to look at his friends again. "Well since her _hubbi_ showed up, she wasn't going to give me a kiss in front of him. Figure I might as well do what I do best, steal it from her but I needed a distraction."

"So you burned the Christmas tree down?" Taruto asks, not really buying Kisshu's words. He grabs the bowl and fills it up with water as well. He pours the hot water on himself and leans back from the feel of the hot water dripping down from his head to his upper body.

Kisshu shakes his head at the remembrance of the Christmas tree in the café. "That thing was too ugly for my taste. I figured that it could be the first thing to go in that wrenched place. The decorations were hideous too."

"Now that's a blow to the heart," Taruto notes, turning to Pai and passing him the bowl.

"Indeed," he agrees as he fills the bowl with water. "You know that Ichigo picked those decorations and paid for them with her own money, right?" Then he pours the water on himself.

"So what?!" Kisshu asks, not feeling a tiny bit of guilt for what he did. "It's just all about the fancy decorations and the stupid, dazzling gifts! From what I saw six years ago, do you know where I see all of those fancy, _beautiful_ decorations and those _dazzling_ gifts? I see them in trashcans, dumpsters, and garbage dumps! I found one trashcan that was filled with disgusting Christmas neckties! If I was suicidal back then because Deep Blue abandoned me, I could've hang myself with them!"

Taruto tries to correct, "You know that doesn't work for us. We can just fly in mid air."

"But we can control when we want to fly or not," Kisshu corrects. "But that's not the point. My point is that this whole Christmas idea is stupid! It's all about the gifts and it's all about the decorations! Then when it's all finish, it all goes into the dump and still the avarice never ends!! A kid wants a Barbie doll and then she wants make up! A boy wants a sports model car until he wants a skate board! What exactly is the whole point of Christmas besides being a terrible reminder to me?!" He proves his point when he places his hand over his scar. Pai and Taruto look at the scar under his hand and they see that the scar still looks just as bad as how it looked six years ago. It hardly healed away since then.

XxX

"Sorry, Aoyama-kun. That was probably something you didn't want to see when you got back," Ichigo tells Masaya when they arrive in front of her house. The lights are on in her house so that means that her parents are inside and waiting for her to come in but Ichigo needs to send Masaya off first before going on. She's standing with him on the sidewalk in front of her house and she has a red jacket on to keep her bare shoulders warm from the cold winter night. Masaya stands before her and he gently smiles at her.

"It wasn't your fault, Ichigo," he told her, sweetly. His hand rising up to her face and gently stroking her cheek. Her cheeks turn red from his touch and his smile turns sweeter. "I got to see you again and spend time with you on Christmas Eve so I'm happy."

Ichigo couldn't help but smile when she heard that. "Aoyama-kun…"

"ICHIGO!!!"

Both Ichigo and Masaya turn to Ichigo's house and they see her father, Shintaro looking at them from the opened front door and his nostrils are snarling. "Get inside, NOW!!"

"Dad!" Ichigo yells out, surprised to see her father so angry.

"You come home late and I see you with this guy!!"

Ichigo yells back, "Be quiet! The neighbors can hear!"

But he doesn't stop. "I bet you weren't at the café at all! I bet you were having a secret date with him and in that outfit no less!!"

Ichigo looks a bit insulted as she looks down at what she's wearing before looking back up at her dad. She was going to say something when a hand from the house comes out and grabs Shintaro's ear. Her mom, Sakura reveals herself and she seems angry with her husband. "Oi!" she calls with a voice deep with anger. "Ichigo is eighteen years old, an adult practically. She's allowed to make her own decisions and do what she wants. Besides she would never lie to us," then she looks up at her daughter and gains back her cheery, friendly attitude, "right, Ichigo?" Ichigo nods and Sakura smiles at the answer. Then her voice goes back to her angry one as she pulls Shinataro back in the house. "Now leave her alone so that she can say good night to her boyfriend." Once Shintaro was in, Sakura closes the door and she gives both Ichigo and Masaya some privacy.

Ichigo scratches the back of her head as she turns to Masaya and she smiles while saying, "Sorry about my psycho parents."

Masaya turns to her and smiles as he says, "You're parents are really nice people, so I don't mind."

"Really?" she asks, surprised to hear that. He nods, causing her to smile when she hears that. "My parents actually met when we did. They get along so well, and they are still so much in love. They're actually my ideal couple." She says this with truly happy eyes and a very sweet smile. Masaya couldn't help but put on a gentle smile at her expression.

"Maybe we'll be like that."

Ichigo puts on a startled expression as she looks up at him and he looks down at his pocket. She looks down as well. "Actually, why don't we?" he asks, taking out a small black box. Ichigo's startled expression turns to shock as she can already guess what's inside that little black box. Before she knew it, Masaya goes down on one knee and he grabs her hand. Her heart starts pounding as he says the words, "Momomiya Ichigo, would you do me the honors of becoming my bride?" Then he opens the black box and Ichigo looks in side and gasps to see a blue diamond silver ring.

She looks at him and breathes out, "Aoyama-kun…"

"Masaya, please," he tells her. Her eyes blink even more at the sound of that. "If you wish to continue calling me 'Aoyama-kun' then do, but you can also call me by my first name as well."

"Ma-" Ichigo starts, hesitating. "Ma-sa-ya?"

"Yes, Ichigo?" he asks.

Her mouth is open as she looks back at the ring, dazzled by its beauty. "I…" she starts, her voice not really working now. "I…"

'_**Koneko-chan!'**_

Ichigo slightly gasps as she hears Kisshu's voice in her head, along with his face in her head. She can actually still feel the warmth of his lips on her cheek when he kissed her when she was vomiting. Compared to the kiss he gave her under the mistletoe, that kiss was sweet and full of so much love. And that kiss is what's holding the word 'yes' back.

'_Why?'_ she wonders. _'Why does he appear now? Of all the times?'_

Then another saying repeats in her head.

"_**You should already know."**_

Sayings, actually.

"_**Kisshu hates Christmas."**_

"_**But if Kisshu onii-chan doesn't get a kiss or gives a kiss soon, then he'll be really cranky, na no da. He didn't even wanted to come to the party until I told him about the first prize, na no da."**_

'_I should already know the reason why Kisshu hates Christmas and why he wrote what he wrote on the walls? __**Christmas equals misery.**__ What exactly does that mean?'_ When she tries to think about the reason, she also tries to think about what happened at the end of the part, and what he said.

"_**Now go spend this cursed holiday with your boyfriend, like always."**_

'_He started acting weird when Aoyama-kun came to the party.'_

"_**Your boyfriend is on the mainland, correct?"**_

"_**Yeah. He's going to spend Christmas with some of his relatives. Why?"**_

"_**No reason."**_

'_Was seeing Aoyama-kun on the holidays what triggered Kisshu's bitter attitude? Was that why Pai asked me that? And I should know why? How the heck could I-'_ Before she could finish that thought, the answer revealed itself to her like a butterfly suddenly flying in front of her eyes. The idea flew by but Ichigo saw it and gasped from its appearance. Ichigo gasped when she figured it out.

XxX

_Knock, knock, knock_

"Pai!" Ichigo calls from the other side of the door, pounding on the doors. She yells, "Open the door! I need to speak to you!"

Then the door opens. Ichigo holds her hand back as Pai answers the door with a grey tank top on and dark purple cotton long pants. Obviously he's wearing sleep clothes and he looks a little tired as he asks, "Do you know what time it is?"

"I know, I know! It's almost eleven but I seriously need to speak with you, and Kisshu," she tells him. He stares at her curious now as she tries to look over his shoulder. "Is he here?"

Truth be told, Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto were in the living room part of their apartment and Kisshu was on his chair that's on the left side of the TV and he was reading his manga, Pai was sitting on the seat across from Kisshu and he was relaxing with a cup of hot cocoa, something that Kisshu refuses to drink during this time of year, and Taruto was on the couch, flipping the channels of the TV to find something that doesn't include Christmas, or Kisshu might destroy the TV and then they'll have to pay the landlord for a new one. When Ichigo pound on the door, they were surprised at first but Kisshu ended up going back to his manga with a pulsing vein on his head. Taruto turned off the TV as Pai got up to the door. Since he's blocking her view, Ichigo can't see Kisshu and Taruto in the room.

Pai answers, "Kisshu already went to bed." Kisshu lowered his manga then and looked up at Pai with a 'what the heck' face as Taruto is surprised to hear that. Then Taruto looks at one of Pai's hand and it's motioning him and Kisshu to hide. "But would you like to come in? I was trying to fall asleep with some hot cocoa."

Ichigo raises a brow at that as Taruto flies off the couch and grabs Kisshu's wrist. Now Kisshu is really confused as Taruto teleports them away into Kisshu's room. When they arrive, Kisshu asks, "What the heck are you doing?!"

But Taruto turns to him and places his finger in front of his lips. "Shush!" he tells him, before turning to the door and leaning close to listen. Kisshu looks confused before looking at the closed door and hearing Ichigo's response to Pai's offer.

"How very gracious of you," she says, sounding a bit weirded out. She is weirded out by his offer as she enters the apartment when Pai moved aside. When she entered and Pai closed the door behind her, her eyes widen in surprise and she lets out a slow gasp. "Wow!" she exclaims, softly. "This is an apartment?! This is more like a suit hotel room!"

Pai walks to the kitchen as he says, "I believe that this is your first time coming here then."

Ichigo turns to him and answers, "Yeah. Every time Kisshu invited me, I declined, mostly because he asked me when Masaya was there or he mentioned that you and Taruto wouldn't be home." Taruto looks at Kisshu with narrowed eyes and Kisshu gives him the 'what?' face. As Pai was getting the pot full of hot water, he had his eyes narrowed when he heard about Kisshu's behavior.

"I see," he mumbled, pouring the hot water in a cup.

Ichigo goes over to counter with the long chairs and he sits down on one of them. Pai gets a packet of instant hot cocoa and pours it into the hot water. He begins to stir it as he asks, "Do you want any marshmallows?"

"Three please," she answers. As he reaches for the cupboard for the marshmallows, Ichigo adds, "No offense, Pai. But your gracious manner is really freaking me out."

Pai drops the three small marshmallows in the hot cocoa and his eyes narrow when he heard that. In the meantime, both Kisshu and Taruto held their mouths closed with their hands to keep their laughter inside them. Pai turns to Ichigo and tells her, "Excuse me for that, then." Then he places the hot cup in front of Ichigo and she grasps it with her cold hands.

"Thank you," she tells him. He doesn't say anything as he flies over to the table in the middle of the circle of chairs and TV to get his cup. He flies back when he grabbed his cup and lands on top of a chair.

He asks, "What do wish to speak about?"

Ichigo's face goes sad and full of guilt as she looks down at her hot cocoa. "I know the reason now." Pai's eyes slightly widen when he hears that and Kisshu and Taruto lean closer to hear, curious to know what the heck they're talking about. Ichigo explains, "At first, I was confused because I didn't know what you meant by that I already knew but I ended up figuring it out later on."

Pai leans on his fist that's leaning on the counter as he asks, "So you came here to tell me that you figure out why he hates Christmas?" Both Taruto and Kisshu's eyes slightly widen they hear that as Ichigo looks up at Pai.

"I came because I wanted to know if the reason I know is the real reason why he hates Christmas," she tells him.

"Well what is your reason?" he asks. "How can I tell you that your reason is correct when you're not telling me what it is?" Ichigo's eyes revert back to guilt and sadness. He asks, "It pains you to bring it up, doesn't it?" She nods.

"It does actually." She grips her hold on the hot up as she bites her lip at the very thought of it. "How could I have been so cruel back then? He must have been in so much pain while I was only thinking about someone else who was in little critical condition then him?"

"But you were in love with that person," Pai reminds, "and you thought of Kisshu as nothing more than an annoying enemy. That's why when he got hurt, you didn't think about it at all until we attacked you."

Ichigo puts on a pitied smile as she lets out a chuckle. "You're right. I didn't think about it. He could have gotten killed by that wound and I was too busy worrying about my own happiness." She lifts on hand up to her forehead and she gently rubs it with her hot hand.

Pai tells her, "Drink your cocoa." Ichigo looks up at him for a moment and then back at the hot cup. She nods and lifts it up for a sip. "I guess it's understandable," he tells her. "You're only a human and thinking about yourself is very human."

Ichigo lowers her cup and nods again. "I guess." She looks back up at him and gently smiles. "You know the funny thing is? You're just as good at this as Lettuce is. You two are like professional therapists. Why aren't you two dating again?"

Pai looks away and he looks a bit embarrassed. "It's complicated." He turns back to her and says, "And we're not talking about my dating life."

"Sorry," Ichigo says, taking that as a sign to back off the subject. "I was just saying."

Pai stares at Ichigo a little bit longer as she takes another sip of her hot cocoa before saying, "That wound hasn't healed yet."

Ichigo lowers her cup immediately and looks at Pai in surprise. "What?"

"Well the wound isn't bleeding every few minutes of the day but the scar looks exactly as it did when it stopped bleeding six years ago. He mentioned that it still aches and it gets worst around this time of year. I figure that when Christmas comes around, the memory of those days causes his shoulder to hurt even more. A lot of things happened, besides the Blue Knight giving him that wound and when he saved your life."

"What else happened?" Ichigo asks, now being a little scared to know.

He answers, "Deep Blue abandoned him that same day the Blue Knight gave him that wound." Ichigo's eyes widen when she heard that and a small gasp escaped her lips. "Deep Blue said that because of the Mew Aqua passing through his body, he no longer needed Kisshu's assistance because of the power he was given from the Mew Aqua. He was willing to allow Kisshu to die from that wound that he himself gave him. I guess it was a way of saying 'you're useless and you are no longer needed.'"

"That's horrible," Ichigo breathed out, hearing this.

Pai reminded, "It was your boyfriend that did it to him. That's why Kisshu snapped when he saw him at the party." Then Ichigo got defensive.

"Okay first off, Masaya wouldn't do that! You know that he wouldn't be that cruel! And Second, I didn't know that he was going to show up at the party. It was just as much of a surprise to me as it was to Kisshu."

Pai points out, "You called him by his first name." Ichigo didn't seem to get it.

"Yeah, so?"

"How exactly did you figure out the true reason why Kisshu hates Christmas?"

Now she got it and her eyes widening prove to Pai that she did. Ichigo goes to her pocket and she takes out a black box. "He gave me this and told me that I could call him by his first name, if I wanted to. He said I have the right to do it."

Being curious, Pai picks up the little black box and he opens it. When he looks inside, his eyes widen again at the sight of it. He asks, "Is this…an engagement ring?"

Taruto gasps when he hears that as Kisshu's eyes widen in pure shock of hearing that. Ichigo corrects, "Technically, it's a promise ring. He told me that we should wait to after college to get married, if we wanted to."

"Do you?" Pai asks. Taruto leans closer for the answer and Kisshu places his hand on his left shoulder again, suddenly aching just as much as his heart in his chest.

Ichigo looks guilty again as she answers, "To tell you the truth, I don't know. I thought I did but when he asked, somehow I couldn't say 'yes'. Then I figured it out. I was able to talk him into leaving the ring with me so that I could think about it without giving him a 'yes' or a 'no'. After he left, I told my parents that I had to go do something real fast. Then I came here. I promised to come home by midnight."

"Which will be soon." Pai looks up at a clock behind Ichigo and she turns around to see it too. It's about 11:30.

Ichigo turns back to Pai and breathes out, "Wow!"

"Time flies when you're talking, huh?" he asks.

She nods. "Yeah."

Then Pai offers, "Shall I teleport you home? It's a forty-five minute walk from our apartment to your house, I imagine."

"Oh, please," she answers. "Thank you." Then she stands up and he stands up as well. "Thank you for the hot cocoa and listening."

He shrugs his shoulders. "I do what I can."

Ichigo warmly smiles at him as she says, "Merry Christmas, Pai and even though it will irritate him, can you tell Kisshu 'Merry Christmas' too?"

"He might kill me for it, but I'll try." Then with that, Pai raises one hand and swifts it down. The air around Ichigo ripples and she slowly disappears, arriving at her front door.

"She's going to say yes."

Pai looks up at the door to Kisshu's room when he heard that after Ichigo was gone. He sees Taruto still in Kisshu's room with the door open and Kisshu is leaning on the door frame. His face is facing the floor, causing his bangs to hide his eyes as his fists are in tight balls. Then he grits his teeth and he growls.

"Damn this whole Christmas to hell!"


	7. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

**Hey Guys!!! I just wanted to wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year and that I have a small announcement. I've decided that since I couldn't finish this story by Christmas time, and that I'm major's writer's block, I've decided to put this story on hold until the next Christmas comes around. I promise that at next Christmas time, I will finish this story!! I am so sorry for those that like this story but I'm way behind schedule and I can't keep my other stories hanging while I'm trying to figure out the next chapter. I'm sorry but that's just how I am. Thank you all and please enjoy my other stories!!**


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